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After the Congress was leftout of the BSP-SP alliance

in Uttar Pradesh, party chiefRahul Gandhi has decided tolaunch an aggressive campaignin the politically crucial State.Rahul will hold 13 rallies in 13zones in Uttar Pradesh inFebruary to sound the bugle forthe Lok Sabha campaign tomake it a three- cornered fightin the State.

AICC sources said in eachzone, six Lok Sabha seats willbe identified and the Gandhiscion will hold one rally in eachzone. Senior Congress leaderGhulam Nabi Azad and theparty’s Uttar Pradesh in-chargeand State Congress chief RajBabbar on Monday held meet-ing with State unit leaders tochalk out the election strategyand finalise the plans.

Sources said Rahul’s sisterPriyanka Vadra may accompa-ny him and also address fourrallies in the first leg of thecampaign. There are 80 LokSabha seats in the State and inthe present Lok Sabha BJP has72 MPs and Congress only two.

Rahul’s first rally will beheld in Lucknow in the firstweek of February. Later, onerally will be held in Varanasi,which is Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s parliamentaryconstituency. The details forremaining rallies will be decid-ed in due course before theparty makes the announce-ment.

Mayawati and AkhileshYadav have decided to contest38 seats each in Uttar Pradeshwhile alliance has left two seatsfor the Congress, the traditionalGandhi dynasty bastions of

Rae Bareli and Amethi.Terming the decision of the

SP and the BSP to keep theCongress out of their pre-pollalliance a ‘mistake’, top UPCongress functionaries believesthat the party will definitelyspring a surprise in the 2019general elections. “This timethere is no Modi wave as suchand a perception has beendeveloped that Rahul Gandhiis the only savior,” said a topAICC functionary.

Rahul too had stated thatSP-BSP have underestimatedthe Congress’s strength in UttarPradesh by keeping the grandold party out of their pre-pollalliance for the general elec-tions. “I could be wrong, butI think Mayawati and MulayamSingh may have underestimat-

ed the Congress. They haven’tfully appreciated the value ofthe Congress. Will see whathappens now,” Rahul had saidin an interview.

He said above all it was apolitical decision and thatrespects for BSP chief Mayawatiand SP chief Akhilesh willever remain. “But now even theCongress will have to do itswork and we will fight with fullzeal and vigour.

The Congress won’t backdown and will fight with all itsmight,” he had said.

Even as Ghulam Nabi Azadannounced to go solo, it hasalso kept the doors of a possi-ble alliance open presumingany secular and like-mindedparty ready to take on BJPwould be welcome in the fold.

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The Delhi Police on Mondayfiled 1,200 pages

chargesheet against formerJawaharlal Nehru UniversityStudents’ Union (JNUSU) pres-ident Kanhaiya Kumar andothers in a sedition case lodgedin 2016.

The February 2, 2016 casepertains to allegations thatanti-national slogans wereraised at an event organised byKanhaiya, Umar Khalid andAnirbhan Bhattacharya onJawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) campus to commemo-rate the hanging of Parliament-attack mastermind Afzal Guru.

The chargesheet has 10main accused people —Kanhaiya, Umar Khalid,Anirban Bhattacharya andseven Kashmiri students study-ing with Aligarh MuslimUniversity, Jamia Millia Islamiaand JNU and identified asAquib Hussain, MujeebHussain, Muneeb Hussain,Umar Gul, Rayeea Rasool,Bashir Bhat and Basharat.

As many as 36 others,including Communist Party ofIndia (CPI) leader D Raja’sdaughter Aprajita, ShehlaRashid (then vice-JNUSUpresident), Rama Naga,Ashutosh Kumar andBanojyotsna Lahiri, all for-mer students of JNU, havebeen named in column 12 ofthe charge sheet due to insuf-ficient evidence against them.

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Amid political uncertainty inKarnataka over claims by

Congress trouble-shooter DKShivakumar that three of hisparty MLAs had been whiskedaway by the BJP to Mumbaiand are now untraceable, ChiefMinister HD KumaraswamyMonday said there is no ques-tion of “instability” in theCongress-JD(S) dispensation.

While expressing confi-dence that no MLA of theJD(S)-Congress alliance willswitch side, Kumaraswamydid confirm that three of theCongress MLAs were inMumbai. On Water ResourceMinister DK Shivakumar’sclaim that three CongressMLAs were camping at a hotelin Mumbai in the “company ofsome BJP leaders”,Kumaraswamy said, “(TheCongress) MLAs have gone toMumbai after bringing it to mynotice; they are in constanttouch with me,” the ChiefMinister said.

Not revealing their names,he said, “They are my friends.Those MLAs in Mumbai or 104BJP MLAs who are in Delhi areall my people, so there is noquestion of instability to thisGovernment.” “I spoke to themat 7:30 am. They have gone forpersonal reasons, and there isno need to add politics to it,”Kumaraswamy said.

“...If my Government isfacing instability, is it possiblefor me to be at ease?” he asked.Shivakumar had on Sundaysaid the BJP’s ‘Operation Lotus’to topple the State’s coalitionGovernment was for real, alleg-ing that three Congress MLAswere camping in a Mumbaihotel. He said the ChiefMinister was being “lenient”towards the BJP, by not expos-ing it.

“I have noticed reports insections of the media (about‘Operation Lotus’). Today too Isaw a media report stating thaton January 17, President’s rulewill be imposed in the State. Idon’t know who is feeding such

reports to the media...I was sur-prised to see the report,”Kumaraswamy said.

“I don’t know who willbenefit from such reports, butin my opinion it will cause lossto the people of the State,” hetold reporters in Mysuru.

‘Operation Lotus’ is a ref-erence to the BJP allegedlyluring several OppositionMLAs to defect to ensure sta-bility of its then-Governmentheaded by B S Yeddyurappa in2008. Speculations are rife that

six to eight Congress MLAs areready to jump ship to the BJPside. There are also reports thata few of them have goneincommunicado.

In an indication that themove to topple theKumaraswamy-led allianceGovernment had the backingof the BJP Central leadership,the BJP is holding up all its 104MLAs, who had gone to Delhifor the party’s National Councilmeeting in the national capital.

“BJP members have gone

for their executive meetingand to plan a strategy for LokSabha polls to win more seats.What should I do if their meet-ing is being seen as a threat tothis government?” the ChiefMinister asked.

Kumaraswamy said heknew all about who the BJPwas contacting and what kindof offers it was using to lurethem. “When media friendsreport that 12 (MLAs) aregoing, 14 and 18 are going,without the BJP luring themwill you get the information?But none of our Congress andJD(S) MLAs will go, fallingprey to their allurements. Thereis no such situation,” he said.

Deputy chief ministerParameshwara also said theGovernment was stable.”Thereis no chance (of the govern-ment becoming unstable),” hesaid. Asked about theCongress MLAs camping in aMumbai hotel, he said “Letthem be...Why they have gone,nobody knows. They mighthave gone on holiday or to

visit temples or meet leaders.”Meanwhile, trashing

reports about the BJP attempt-ing ‘to topple the coalitionGovernment in Karnataka,state party chief B SYeddyurappa Monday saidthere was no truth in it andalleged that the Congress-JD(S) combine was trying tolure opposition MLAs.

He also clarified that BJPMLAs were camping in NewDelhi to discuss the strategyfor Lok Sabha polls and theparty was not indulging in any“resort politics.”

“Despite having majority,the Congress-JD(S) combineis trying to lure our MLAs andindulging in horse-trading,BJP is not doing it.

New agency PTI said theBJP legislators in Delhi werelikely to be shifted toGurgaon, to keep its numbersin tact, with the Congressand JD(S) allegedly planningto poach BJP MLAs as a retal-iatory measure to Operationlotus.

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The Bulandshahr districtadministration on Monday

invoked the National SecurityAct (NSA) against seven peo-ple arrested in connection withthe alleged cow slaughteringincident in Siyana tehsil lastmonth, officials said.

Cattle carcasses were foundstrewn in the fields outside vil-lage Mahaw in Siyana onDecember 3 after which a mob went on the rampage,attacking the localChingrawathi police post.

Inspector Subodh KumarSingh, 44, and civilian Sumit Kumar, 20, ofChingrawathi village werekilled of gunshot injuries in theensuing violence.

Two separate FIRs wereregistered — one for the vio-lence in which nearly 80 peo-ple including 27 named and theother for cow slaughter — atthe Siyana police station.

“Yes,” District MagistrateAnuj Jha said on whether thestringent NSA was invokedagainst those arrested in thecow slaughter case. PTI

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Amid raging protests inAssam and other parts of

North East over the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016, theCentre has decided to holdwide-ranging consultation todiffuse the situation. HomeMinister Rajnath Singh willsoon call a meeting of theNorth-East Chief Ministers todiscuss safeguards required toprotect the region’s culturaland linguistic identity.

Large-scale protests havebeen witnessed in Assam andsome other parts of the NorthEast seeking withdrawal of thecontroversial Bill, which seeksto grant nationality to non-Muslims who fled religiouspersecution from three neigh-bouring countries and enteredIndia before December 31,2014.

With Lok Sabha electionround the corner, the BJP isunder tremendous pressure todouse the flames of protest inNorth East, which elects 25MPs. The Bill has created mas-sive anti-BJP sentiments inseveral pockets across theNorth East. More than halfmembers of the Committee

appointed by the Centre tosuggest ways to accommodatekey provision of Assam Accordin view of the implication of theCitizenship (Amendment) Bill,2016, have resigned from thepanel.

The Bill which was passedby Lok Sabha last week is like-ly to be tabled in the RajyaSabha in the Budget Session.Several protesting leaders,including those from Assam’sregional parties, have said theState’s indigenous people willlose their linguistic and cul-tural identity if the CitizenshipBill is passed.

Protesters have also saidthe proposed legislation goesagainst the 1985 AssamAccord, which says anyone

having entered the State aftera cut-off date of March 24,1971 should be treated as anillegal migrant and should bedeported.

Singh’s proposed meetingwith the Chief Ministersassumes significance as therehave been concerns expressedby various stakeholders overnon-functioning of a Centre-nominated committee to assessthe implementation of Clause6 of the Assam Accord andother matters related to theNorth Eastern States.

Clause 6 of the AssamAccord states “constitutional,legislative and administrativesafeguards, as may be appro-priate, shall be provided to pro-tect, preserve and promotethe cultural, social, linguisticidentity and heritage of theAssamese people”.

“Union Home Ministerwill soon be calling a meetingof Chief Ministers of the con-cerned States. They will furtherdiscuss about the safeguardsthat need to be provided forprotecting the interests of thesestates and protecting their cul-tural and linguistic identity,”the Home Ministry said in itsstatement.

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Kumbh Mela-2019 is all setfor its first Shahi Snan

(royal bathing) of MakarSankranti beginning in thewee hours on Tuesday. All the13 recognised akharas willreach the Sangam with fullgrandeur and fanfare fromtheir mela camps led by theNaga sadhus displaying skillswith their traditional weapons.

The sun entered theMakar rashi on Monday itselfbut after sunset due to whichthe Makar Sankranti bathingwill take place on Tuesday.The akharas will start reach-ing the Sangam, the conflu-ence of the three rivers --Ganga, Yamuna, andSaraswati at 5.15 am. Thefirst to reach the Sangam forthe Shahi Snan will be theMaha Nirvani Akhara and

the Atal Akhara followed bythe Niranjani, Anand, Juna,Awahan, Sri Panch Agni,Nirvani Ani, Digambar Ani,Nirmohi Ani, Naya Udaseen,Bada Udaseen and NirmalAkhara. The last akhara hasbeen given the time slot of2:40 pm. The other ShahiSnans wil l be MauniAmavasya on February 4 andBasant Panchami on February10 besides important bathingoccasions of Poush Purnimaon Januar y 21, MaghiPurnima on February 19 andMahashivratri on March 4.

Kumbh happens to be thebiggest religious and spiritu-al congregation on earth. TheKumbh-2019 has a specialsignificance owing to the per-sonal interest taken by thePrime Minister and the ChiefMinister to convert it into anunforgettable event and the

Government had opened itscoffers to beautify Allahabadcity and the Sangam areabesides providing better facil-ities to the devotees and thesaints.

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Prayagraj (UP): A cooking gascylinder exploded in a tent atthe Digambar Ani Akhara atthe Kumbh Mela site here onMonday, triggering a massivefire, prompting Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathto direct officials to compen-sate the loss immediately.

There was, however, noreport of any one beinginjured, Akhara police stationinspector Bhaskar Mishra said.

The Chief Minister alsodirected the fire department toinspect all the tents and takenecessary precautions, an offi-cial spokesperson said inLucknow.

According to officials, thefire broke out around 12.45pm. Soon after, six fire tendersand eight ambulances wererushed to the spot.

The fire-fighters, with thehelp of the mela administra-tion, fire brigade, NationalDisaster Response Force(NDRF) and State DisasterResponse Force (SDRF), tookabout 10 minutes to bring theblaze, which had engulfed themakeshift structure at thevenue, under control, thepolice said.

Two vehicles and somematerials kept at the site weredamaged, they added. PTI

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Lucknow : RJD leaderTejashwi Yadav on Mondaypromised full support to theBSP-SP alliance in UttarPradesh for the Lok Sabhapolls, asserting that the moveby the two regional parties tocome together to fight the BJPhas gone down well through-out the country.

Stating that the alliancewill be hailed in the future,Tejashwi also said UttarPradesh and Bihar will decidewho will come to power at theCentre after the general elec-tions.

“Our organisation in UttarPradesh will lend support tothe alliance,” he told newsper-

sons in Lucknow after meetingSamajwadi Party(SP) presi-dent Akhilesh Yadav. The RJDleader had met Bahujan SamajParty (BSP) supremo Mayawatiin Lucknow on Sunday night.

“It is not just UP but theentire country where the mes-sage of alliance hasgone...(now) the people of UP

and Bihar will decide as to whowill come to power at theCentre.”

Akhilesh responded sayingTejashwi’s offer of support willfurther cement the alliance.

Both Tejashwi andAkhilesh also targeted the BJPclaiming that people will oustthe party from power.

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�� 4 7-21 7 In anticipation of a mammothturnout of devotees on the

occasion of Makar SankrantiSnan for two days startingfrom Monday, the districtadministration and the policehave made ample arrange-ments to maintain law andorder in the district. Thoughthe ritualistic Snan started onMonday, the real Snan wouldbe held on Tuesday duringwhich lakhs of people areexpected to throng the fabledghats of the holy city, saidpolice. The senior superinten-

dent of police HaridwarJanmejay Khanduri reviewedsecurity with the officers at ameeting held at the trafficpolice line in course of whicha route map for the traffic flowwas briefed. As per the routemap framed by police, noheavy vehicle would be allowedto ply from Monday night tillTuesday night.

Since the auspicious peri-od is starting from Mondayevening, much of the crowd isexpected to arrive since theearly Tuesday morning, said

the SSP.Nearly three lakh devotees

thronged the ghats here forholy dip on Monday and theturnout is likely to be morethan double on Tuesday, saidthe police. The traffic diver-sion plan would be imple-mented on Tuesday. FromLaltarao to Shiv Murti, itwould be zero zone area,informed police.

Speaking to The Pioneer,SSP Janmejay Khanduri said,“Since lakhs of people arecongregating on Kartik

Purnima Snan at Har ki Paidi,we have put into place allarrangements to ensure peaceand security during the festi-val. The city has been cor-doned and intense checkingdrives have been started fromSaturday evening at publicplaces like bus stands andrailway station where the peo-ple gather in a large number.”

Providing details aboutthe arrangements made, SSPsaid, “The whole mela area hasbeen divided into seven zonesand 14 sectors and at 4 pm on

Monday, the cops have takenpositions at the assignedplaces. They have beeninstructed to hand over thecharge of the place to anoth-er before leaving the assignedduty. We have ensured thatspecial attention is given to theelderly pilgrims. Bomb squadsand sniffer dog squads havealready been into action.” Hefurther said that 2000 copsfrom different branches ofpolice have been asked to be inposition for the smooth con-duct of the fair, added the SSP.

The district magistrateDeepak Rawat said while talk-ing to The Pioneer, “The localintelligence units at MansaDevi and Chandi Devi templesare alert. From the crowdmanagement point of view,monitoring of the closed cir-cuit cameras at the sensitivepoints like bus stand, railwaystation, ashrams would bedone by the special personnelentrusted with the task.”

Close vigilance would bekept on the parking zonesand barricades are being erect-ed around the under-con-struction bridged at Har KiPaidi.

As per the Hindu scrip-tures, the Makar Sankranticelebrates the arrival of the

Sun in ‘Uttarayan’. Whiledwelling on the significance ofthe festival, a priest working ata famed temple said that fromMakar Sankranti onwards, theperiod is deemed to be auspi-cious for initiating new works.“The people perform tarpan(offering to the ancestors) atNarayani Shila and KushawartGhats on the occasion.

It is believed that whatev-er is offered to the deceasedmembers of the family it reach-es straight to them and thepunya gets enhanced by holydip taken in the sacred river.

The merit gained this wayis believed to exceed the fruitgained through performing‘Ashwamedha Yajnas,’” hesaid.

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Though the drive to removeunauthorised vendors has

been continuing in the city, thevending zones are yet to comeup. According to the MunicipalCorporation of Dehradun(MCD) officers, things wouldwait until the first board meet-ing of the new board is held. Asper the officials, the drive iscontinuing now in full swing,removing unauthorised ven-dors from various areas of thecity. “However, things in thedirection of the new vendingzones in the city must wait tillthe first board meeting ofMCD is held,” said a seniorcivic body officer.

According to the officers,there are 13 vending zonesnow operational in the cityspread over various areas out ofthe 22 zones. “Given therequirement of more vendingzones, 10 more have been pro-posed by the civic body author-ity,” said an MCD officer.

It is learnt that it is for theMCD to provide basic facilitiesin all the zones, including

proper infrastructure, drinkingwater, toilet and the like. Butnothing has been done so far.Also, there are around onethousand authorised vendorsselling their goods in mobileform and around 500 are sta-ble vendors located in variouszones. The rest are unautho-rised and are being removed bythe MCD.

The fact has also come tolight that MCD has a commit-tee ‘town vending committee’which came up in 2017. It ismeant to discuss and act for thewelfare of the vendors. But itbecame non-functional afterjust one year.

Municipal commissionerVinay Shankar Pandey said,“The process of making ven-dors’ zone is time-consuming.We have discussed the matterwith the mayor. This would fea-ture in course of the first meet-ing of the newly formed boardwhich is likely to be held inmid-February. Once properplanning of the vending zonesis finalised, the process of plac-ing them in various areaswould be the next step.”

Quizzed over the ongoingdrive, the officer in-charge of

the drive said, “The drive hasbeen continuing in full swingin the city since it waslaunched. We have a properteam which is keeping thingson the move. The team com-prises four inspectors and onezebra team. It is using twotrucks too. We have put somecontrol on the movement of thevendors in the vicinity of theClock Tower and DispensaryRoad.

However, it must be admit-ted that the vendors areinclined to move to anotherplace once they are removedfrom one. The problem wouldbe solved once we put intoplace proper zones for them.Currently, we have 13 zones invarious areas of the city like inLal Pul, Seema Dwar and somein the newly added wards, butmore zones are required tomeet the need of the situation.Once all the zone would startoperating, we would developinfrastructure, drinking waterand toilet facilities among oth-ers. Furthermore, we are notgiving new licence to the ven-dors as of now. The renewal ofthe licence would start after twoor three months.”

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Panchinath who had beenarrested on the charge of

poaching from Chillawali rangeof Rajaji National Park in Maylast year was arrested again onMonday on charge of fishing inthe conserved area of the park.Earlier, he had been arrested onthe charge of hiding theremains of two tigers and threeleopards in pits inside the parkarea. The accused was on bailwhen he was arrested again.Notably, during interrogation,he revealed some more infor-mation regarding the poaching,claimed the foresters.

The deputy director RajajiNational Park HimanshuKumar said that he had receivedinformation of some peopleroaming stealthily in the Parkpremises. “Acting on the infor-mation, we formed four teamswith the forest ranger Sharanpalincluded in it. At around 1.30am on Saturday, some peoplewere found fishing in a river.

While three of the accusedran away, one was caught withthe fishing net, fishes and someother things. The accused was

identified as Panchinath, resi-dent of Sapera Basti. He wasarrested and during interroga-tion, he gave some valuableinformation to the policeregarding poaching of leop-ards,” he added.

Mentionworthy, leopardhide, flesh and bones had beenrecovered from four differentplaces in Dudhia beat ofHaridwar division of RajajiNational Park earlier.Panchinath had surrenderedhimself before the court inMay 2018, the forest officersadded.

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Cultural programme andsymposiums were held in

several schools in Haridwar tomark the birth anniversary ofthe nationalist monk SwamiVivekananda. VivekanandaVichar Manch hosted culturalprogrammes and symposiumin Shivalik Nagar during whichhuge donations were collectedfor the children from unprivi-leged families.

The students ofMadhuram School for under-privileged children and DivyaSewa Mission presenteddance ballets.

The patron of the organ-isation J C Kwatra led theprayer with those gatheredfrom various fields like edu-cation, administration, reli-gious outfits and social organ-isations joining it.

MLA from RanipurAdesh Chauhan presentedgifts to the students who per-

formed well and encouragedthem to grow up while serv-ing the society on the lineslaid down by SwamiVivekananda .

Presiding as chief gueston the occasion, the founderof Adhyatm Chetna SanghAcharya Karunesh Mishrasaid that Swami Vivekanandais the ideal of the youth. “Hissoul- stirring messaged fill uswith strength when we facetrying times. Vivekananda’soratory was so powerful thateverybody who listened tohim was left mesmerised,” hesaid.

He further drew compar-ison between the verses ofBhagavad Gita and those ofSwami Vivekananda.

Sunil Mukherjee movedthe audience with the song hesung on Swami Vivekananda.The president of SIIDCULindustrial Association ArunSaraswat drew some wittyand humorous anecdotesfrom the l i fe of SwamiVivekananda.

The convenor of the pro-gramme Naresh Mohan alsospoke on the occasion andelucidated the principals themonk embodies.

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Dr Sujata Sanjay was felic-itated with FOGSI

Women’s EmpowermentAward at the 62nd All IndiaCongress Obstetrics andGynaecology (AICOG) 2019conference held in Bengaluru.It is learnt that she was award-ed for her tireless effort andsocial work to spread messageregarding health awareness,prevention and reduction ofmaternal mortality.

Her initiatives pertainingto Beti Bachao Beti Padhao invarious school and collegeswas lauded too during theevent.

Dr Sujata Sanjay has con-ducted 225 free medical campsover the past seven yearswhich has helped around 6500

patients by way of receivingconsultations. She also broad-casted over 117 radio talks onhealth issues. For her efforts inthe f ield of developingwomen’s condition, she hasalso been recognised by theIndia Books of Records in2017, it is learnt.

Asked to comment on theaward bestowed on her, SujataSanjay said, “Women are oftenbusy while taking care of theirfamily. In the process, theytend to neglect their ownhealth. Consequently, manyproblems set into their body.

To tackle this, I started freemedical health checkups inDehradun and various nearbyareas so that the women’shealth is checked up and theyhave access to proper medi-cines.”

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Work needs to be done inthe forestry sector

towards achieving theGovernment’s goal of doublingfarmers’ incomes throughappropriate forestry interven-tions. The Indian Council ofForestry Research andEducation (ICFRE) directorgeneral SC Gairola said this atthe start of a five-day trainingprogramme on forest certifi-cation in Indian context forofficers of Indian Forest Service(IFS) at the Forest ResearchInstitute here on Monday.

Gairola also drew theattention of the participants toIndia’s target under Paris agree-ment to create an additionalcarbon sink of 2.5 to three bil-lion tonnes CO2 equivalent,and under Bonn Convention torestore 21 million hectaredegraded forest.

These need productivityintensive efforts towards for-est productivity enhancementand forest landscape restora-tion. Forestry practices shouldbe implemented with suitablemodif icat ions, whereverneeded, considering the con-temporary requirements.

The role of forests ingroundwater recharge andpurification of air must beaugmented and highlighted.He also focused on howforesters can enhance pro-ductivity of forests by imple-menting sustainable forestmanagement practices as

India’s forest productivity isvery low as compared withthe rest of the world.

Speaking about the train-ing course, the FRI directorAS Rawat emphasised on therole of forest certification asa tool for sustainable man-agement of forests of thecountry.

He highlighted the needand utility of forest certifica-tion in India, stating that for-est certification has alreadybeen implemented in manydeveloped and some devel-oping countries.

According to FRI, thecore objectives of the trainingare implementation of sus-

tainable forest managementoperations for enhancing pro-ductivity of forest in accor-dance with the new WorkingPlan Code-2014 keeping inview of current challenges offorest management, forestlaws, governance and trade ofthe country and overview offorest certification in Indiancontext.

Twenty participants fromthe states of Gujarat, UttarPradesh, Himachal Pradesh,Talangana, Jammu andKashmir, Nagaland,Rajasthan, Jharkhand,Madhya Pradesh, Kerala,Maharasthra, ArunachalPradesh and Assam are

attending the course. During a technical session

after the inaugural session,Uttar Pradesh ForestCorporation general manag-er (Marketing) Atul Jindalelaborated the mechanism ofa transparent system of mar-keting of certified timber inUttar Pradesh.

This is allowing forestdepartment to get higher rev-enue from sale of produce, herevealed.

A field visit will be con-ducted to Shivalik forest divi-sion, Saharanpur to demon-strate the functioning of atimber depot supplying cer-tified forest produce.

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�� 2047 26'

The State MeteorologicalCentre has forecast main-

ly clear to the partly cloudy skyfor the State on Tuesday. Dryweather is likely to prevail inUttarakhand for nearly oneweek, the Met officers said.However, they have issued ayellow warning of moderate todense fog forming in someparts of the plains, especially inHaridwar and Udham SinghNagar districts of the State onJanuary 15 and 16.

Dehradun city would havedry climate on Tuesday thoughthe people here might wake upto a foggy morning. The max-imum and minimum temper-atures are likely to hoveraround 23 degree Celsius and5 degree Celsius respective

Talking to The Pioneer, thedirector of State MeteorologicalCentre Bikram Singh said,“According to the predictionmade, the weather in the Stateis going to be dry for themajority of the places in thestate for a week.

Some places likeUttarkashi, Chamoli andPithoragarh are likely to havesnow or rainfall activity on 16January. Other places willremain under the dry spell. Acondition conducive for of

rainfall might develop in someparts of the State in the nextweek.”

The maximum and mini-mum temperatures recorded atvarious towns of the state onMonday were 22.2 degreeCelsius and 5.1 degree Celsiusin Dehradun, 23.1 degreeCelsius and 4.0 degree Celsiusin Pantnagar, 10.4 degreeCelsius and 0.3 degree Celsiusin Mukteshwar and 13.2 degreeCelsius and 1.2 degree Celsiusin New Tehri respectively.

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�� 2047 26'

Swine flu is continuing toscare the residents of Doon

valley as the district healthauthorities have reported twomore deaths due to the diseaseon Monday. With these deaths,the number of those dead dueto the disease in the provisionalState Capital has mounted upto five. The chief medical offi-cer (CMO) of Dehradun, Dr SK Gupta said while talking toThe Pioneer on Monday thattwo patients-one a resident ofRudraprayag and the other, aresident of Saharanpur-whowere undergoing treatment forthe disease, died on Sunday atMahant Indiresh Hospital. Hesaid that the deaths have beenreported by the hospital admin-istration on Monday.

The CMO further said thatthree patients of the disease arenow undergoing treatment indifferent hospitals spreadacross the district. He saidthat the department is now

issuing fresh advisory on Swineflu in view of the latest death.Dr Gupta said that all medicalprofessionals have been askedto keep track of the suspectedcases of the disease and informthem to the district healthdepartment. The CMO, how-ever, added that there is noneed to panic regarding thedisease and said that the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)has categorically stated thatSwine flu is no longer an epi-demic but just like any seasonalinfluenza.

He said that if a personcomplains of breathlessnessalong with cough and cold he/she should immediately consulta doctor without wasting anytime.

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Swine flu is a viral disease. Itsvirus is called H1 N1. Its

genetic analysis has shown thatit originates from the animals,especially pigs and hence it iscalled Swine flu. The Swine flupatients are divided into threecategories. In 'A' category,patient suffers from mild feverand irritation in throat. Thepatients of this category shouldbe isolated at home and require

no test or medication. Thepatients of 'B' category arecharacterised by high fever andthe patient needs isolation andshould be administeredOseltamivir (Tami flu) medi-cine.

The medical experts are ofthe view that if a patient is suf-fering from breathlessness, lowBlood Pressure along withsymptoms of A and B catego-ry he is put under category 'C'.Such patients should be isolat-ed, hospitalised, administeredTami flu and needed to be test-ed for Swine flu.

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The Mahant Indiresh hospi-tal where four out of five

Swine flu–related deaths haveso far occurred has set up a spe-cial 12-bed ward for the patientsof the disease. The hospital hasalso appointed Dr YogeshDhand of department of med-icine as the nodal officer ofSwine flu. The hospital also hasa modern central molecularresearch laboratory which is theonly authorised centre certifiedby National Centre for DiseaseControl (NCDC) in the State.

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�� 2047 26'

All villages with up to 250population in the State

will be linked by road by 2019,said Chief Minister TrivendraSingh Rawat. He said this whileaddressing the gathering at thehistorical Dadamandi GendMela being held in Pauri dis-trict for 134 years.

Rawat said that to turn thebane of pine into a blessing,talks have been held withIndonesia for making pineproducts. In the near future, 10experts will be sent toIndonesia for technical train-ing.

About 143 different prod-ucts can be made from pinewhich can turn out to be aneconomic game changer for theState. The CM, further, saidthat despite limited financialresources of the State, the StateGovernment has decided tofacilitate zero interest agricul-tural loan for farmers. Thisscheme will be initiated fromJanuary 26.

Rawat went on to statethat the Government is alsomaking efforts to link all vil-lages in the State with theinternet by July 2019. This willalso enable provision of facili-ties like telemedicine and tele-radiology in hospitals locatedin remote areas.

Stating that his aim is toprovide good governance andcorruption-free administra-tion, Rawat said that the sec-retariat and Chief Minister’soffice have been rid of mid-dlemen.

The implementation ofvarious governmental schemeshas also been expedited.During about 20 months of histerm as the Chief Minister, var-ious policy decisions had beentaken to take the State ahead onthe developmental path, heaverred.

He referred to theinvestors’ summit held inOctober last year in whichmemoranda of understandingworth �1,25,000 crore weresigned.

Reiterating his commit-ment for eradicating corrup-tion, the CM said that morethan 60 persons involved incorruption had been sent to jailduring the past 20 months.Referring to the AtalAyushman UttarakhandYojana, he said that with thelaunch of this scheme,Uttarakhand had become thefirst state in India to provide auniversal health cover schemefor its residents.

He also announced makingthe Gend Mela a state fair, �38lakh for improvement ofDadamandi ground and �29

lakh for making of lake onMatiyala Khoh river.

He also announced finan-cial provisions for variousschemes related to health ser-vices, education, potable watersupply, roadworks and elec-tricity supply in the region.

The Sintali bridge whichlinks Pauri and Tehri districtswill be connected to the allweather road and work on itwill be executed under theAsian Development Bank.Yamkeshwar MLA RituBhushan Khanduri also

expressed her views on the occasion.

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Though the State of Assamand Darjeeling region of

West Bengal are traditionallyfamous for the tea producedthere, Uttarakhand is also mak-ing its presence felt in tea pro-duction. The brand of tea pro-duced in Uttarakhand hascaught the fancy of tea lovers,not only in the country but alsoin various countries across theworld.

The cultivation of tea in theregion dates back to 1835.During the colonial era, thefirst lot of 2000 tea plants werebrought from China and plant-ed in Lakshmeshwar area ofAlmora and Bharatpur nearBhimtal.

Later, tea gardens wereextended in other parts of theregion. Calcutta Chamber ofCommerce rated and pricedteam from this region quite highin the market. The British hadfirst had tried to develop teaproduction in this region estab-lishing about 63 tea gardens in

1880 with total cultivated areaof 10937 acres, providingemployment to about 5,000locals.

With the beginning of QuitIndia Movement, these tea gar-dens being property of theBritish were slowly ruined dueto mismanagement. Furthercoupled with problems of trans-portation, the unavailability oflocal market, labour and facto-ry for processing of tea leavesresulted in decline of tea pro-duction which by 1949 was

almost negligible. A fresh start to revive the

tea gardens in the State wasmade in 1993-94 under theUttarakhand Tea DevelopmentProject by the then UttarPradesh Government beforecreation of Uttarakhand State.Under this project varioushybrid varieties of tea wereplanted in Kausani area, whichhad a rich aroma and taste.

After success in the endeav-our, the first tea factory inUttarakhand- the Uttaranchal

Tea Factory was started in 2001as a joint venture involvingGiria’s Uttaranchal TeaCompany with Government ofUttarakhand at Pingalkote inthe Kausani area of Bageshwardistrict.

The factory initiated ortho-dox tea production by 2002under the brand name‘Uttaranchal Tea’. Later on, withthe establishment of tea gardensin small pockets in differentareas including Champawat,Ghorakhal in Nainital district

and Nauti in Chamoli district,three small factories were alsoestablished in these areas by theUttarakhand Tea DevelopmentBoard.

As on April 2018, inorgan-ic tea gardens covered about572 hectares while organic teagardens covered about 593hectares in the state.

Tea tasters in Kolkata haverated ‘Uttaranchal Tea’ at parwith Darjeeling tea due towhich the demand forUttaranchal Tea is on the risethe world over. It is beingexported to South Korea, Japan,Germany, USA, Netherlandsand Britain. It is also in demandin the domestic markets ofDelhi, Gurugram, Mumbai,Goa, Punjab, Haryana andAhmedabad.

The revival of tea gardensin the State has provided a boostto employment generation andhelped improve the economiccondition of the locals.

Besides, being a perennialplant, it keeps greenery aliveand helps maintain the ecolog-ical balance.

It prevents soil erosion andserves a good means for puttingfallow land to productive use.The scenic beauty and produceof the tea gardens also attracttourists which add to the rev-enue generation.

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Two persons were caughtwith demonitised currency

amounting to �2.5 crore by theKashipur police. According tothe police, based on a tip offprovided by an informant, theKashipur police raided a prop-erty business office.

The police nabbed KunwarSingh Bisht and Brijesh Dimriwith the demonetised curren-cy from Bisht’s property busi-ness office on IIM Road,Kundeshwari in Kashipur.

The cache compriseddemonetised �1000 and �500currency notes. The police alsoseized one car from the scene.Two persons were able to givethe police the slip.

�� 2047 26'

The vice-chancellor of theDoon University, C S

Nautiyal said that the researchshould always be based on theoriginal subject and suchresearch works which havepotential to help society shouldbe promoted.

He was addressing an inau-gural session on researchmethodology at school of man-agement of the university onMonday.

The ten-day seminar isbeing organised by the IndianCouncil of Social ScienceResearch (ICSSR).

He said that in the rapidlychanging economic scenario ofthe world, practical and ana-lytical research is needed in thesphere of social science.

Management Guru, AlokSaklani said that advent ofmodern technology has provedto be a boon to the researchscholars.

Former VC of HNBGarhwal University S C Bagrihighlighted importance of year-wise and subject-wise compi-lation of research works of thepast so that proper research andanalysis is done.

�� 2047 26'

The movie-The AccidentalPrime Minister exposes

nepotism and other anomaliesunder the Congress Governmentwhich is why leaders of that partyhad been opposing the release ofthis movie. The Bharatiya JanataParty state president Ajay Bhattsaid this after watching themovie along with a group ofparty leaders here on Monday.

Along with the BJP Statepresident, Minister of State DhanSingh Rawat, leaders and officebearers of the party went to alocal cinema hall to view TheAccidental Prime Minister.

Talking to the media personsafter watching the movie, Bhattsaid that the movie is based onfacts. He said, “The Congress isobjecting to this movie becauseit is uneasy with various aspectsof the Gandhi family beingexposed in the public. The movieis based on a biographical bookwritten by the then PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh’smedia advisor Sanjaya Barupublished in 2014.

This movie shows how onefamily dominates the Congressparty and how it makes othersdance to its tunes or humiliatesthose who don’t obey. The inci-dent of allocation of space for for-mer Prime Minister NarsimhaRao’s samadhi in Delhi after hisdemise has also been shown inthis movie. It also exposes how

the Congress and Gandhi fam-ily play the game of putting theblame on others to conceal theirown scams and when such casesescalate.”

The BJP State president fur-ther opined that the Congressleaders lack the courage to facefacts which is why they are has-sled by the movie. He also appre-ciated the director, producer ofthe movie and lead actorAnupam Kher for his acting.

Those who watched themovie along with Bhatt includ-ed Dehradun mayor SunilUniyal ‘Gama’, party generalsecretary Naresh Bansal, theparty’s state media in chargeDevendra Bhasin, state officesecretary Pushkar Singh Kalaand other office bearers of theparty.

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�� 2047 26'

With the UnionGovernment issuing

notification for amendedNational Council of TeacherEducation (NCTE) Act after itspassage in both Houses of theParliament, decks are clearedfor the retrospective grant ofpermission for the Special BasicTeacher Certificate (BTC)course conducted by differentDistrict Institutes of Educationand Training (DIET) in

Uttarakhand. It would prove beneficial

for more than 17,000 teachersof the Government-run pri-mary schools. Notably, in theabsence of recognition, theywere under threat of losingtheir jobs. The educationdepartment would now applyfor in retrospection permissionof recognition for special BTCcourses offered by it from theyears from 2000 to 2016.

The Rajya Sabha (RS) in itsrecently concluded winter ses-sion had passed the NationalCouncil for Teacher EducationBill (Amended)-2019 whichgrants retrospective recognitionto the teachers’ educationcourses of certain institutions.The bill had earlier beencleared by the Lok Sabha.

In Uttarakhand, there more

than 17,000 serving teacherswho were appointed on thebasis of special BTC course.

The Bachelor of Education(BEd) qualified teachers wereimparted an in-service trainingof special BTC in differentDIETs from the year 2001 to2016 to make them eligible toteach in primary classes.However, in 2016, it wasrealised that the all-importantrecognition from NCTE wasnot taken by the educationdepartment of Uttarakhandfor special BTC course.

The plea of the departmentto grant recognition in retro-spection was turned down byNCTE as it violates the very Actby which it was governed.

As per the new guidelinesof the Union human resourcedevelopment (HRD) ministry,

the Diploma in ElementaryEducation (DElEd) qualifiedcandidates are alone eligible toteach the primary students.The HRD ministry had madeit clear that after March 2019,all primary teachers who didnot have a DElEd degree orBTC certificate would beremoved from the posts of theprimary teachers.

The order had triggeredpanic as the threat of losingjobs kept dangling over theheads of thousands of trainedserving teachers after March2019.

The problem of theseteachers is now sorted out bythe passage of NCTE amend-ment bill in the Parliament andthe subsequent notificationissued by the UnionGovernment.

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The state administration sit-ting over the proposal of

extension of their contracts, thefate of faculty members ofGovernment Doon MedicalCollege (GDMC) hangs in bal-ance. The three-year contract of12 faculty members whichincludes professors, associateprofessors and assistant pro-fessors of the medical collegehas expired.

Similarly, the contract of 13more faculty members would

also expire in the coming days.Though the faculty memberswhose contract has expiredare continuing with their dailychores, they are apprehensiveabout their future.

“It appears that the StateGovernment is not interestedto continue our services. TheUttarakhand Medical ServicesSelection Board would soonconduct interviews for the fac-ulty positions in theGovernment colleges of theState and in such a scenario thechances of extension of ourcontract are bleak. Most of ushave started scouting for otheropportunities,’’ said an assistantprofessor of a college.

These faculty members areupset as they want theGovernment to recognise theservices rendered by them inestablishing the colleges theyare now serving.

“We were selected after aproper process in which everycriterion like reservation wasfollowed. For the past threeyears, we have worked hard toensure that the medical collegesgot the mandatory permissionfrom the Medical Council ofIndia (MCI),’’ said a dejectedfaculty member.

The principal of GDMC,Dr Ashutosh Sayana said thatthe process of renewal of con-tract of the faculty membershas started and soon their con-tracts would be renewed.

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To make regular appointmentsin the government medical

colleges of the State, theUttarakhand Medical ServiceSelection Board (UKMSSB)would undertake interviews forselection of 138 posts in 24 dis-ciplines from January 28. InUttarakhand, there are threegovernment medical colleges-Government Doon MedicalCollege, Medical CollegeHaldwani and Veer ChandraSingh Garhwali Medical CollegeSrinagar.

In the absence of permanentappointments for the past manyyears, most of the faculty mem-bers in these medical collegeshave been working on contract.In such a situation, these medicalcolleges are plagued by absen-teeism, frequent changes andother problems associated withcontractual employees.

The appointment of newpermanent faculty members inthese colleges is expected tobring stability in the teachingpositions to the benefit of all con-cerned.

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Dehradun:The State adminis-tration reshuffled portfolios ofhalf a dozen officials, includingtwo of Indian Police Services(IPS), of the police department

on Monday.Yashwant Singh Chauhan

has been appointed as the newsuperintendent of police (SP) ofChamoli while the SP crime,law and order, CPU and roadsafety, Preeti Priyadarshani hasbeen shifted to Haldwani as SP(Regional) Haldwani.

The SP City Haridwar,Mamta Bohara has been shift-ed as ASP Law and Order

Police headquarters while SPcrime Udham Singh NagarKamlesh Upadhayaya would bethe new SP city of Haridwar.ASP Vigilance Pramod Kumarhas been shifted as SP Trafficand Crime Udham SinghNagar. Similarly, ASP Vigilance,Pauri, Renu Lohani has beenshifted to the Vigilance head-quarters Dehradun as ASPVigilance.

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The ruling Bharatiya JantaParty in Haryana may face

a tough time in securing a vic-tory in the Jind assemblybypoll, with Jat outfits planningupping the ante against the BJPover their long-pendingdemands including reserva-tion.

Given the significance ofoutcome of crucial Jind bypollahead of 2019 general elections,the Jat outfits have decided toreach out to the voters andmake an appeal to cautiouslyelect their representative, bear-ing in mind the violent Jat agi-tation 2016 in Haryana andlong-pending demands ofdominant Jat community in thestate.

Jind assembly segment hasmore than 1.7 lakh voters, over1.07 lakh of whom live in theurban areas.

According to the political

analysts, the caste combinationswill play a vital role in central-ly located Jind, known as thepolitical heart of JatlandHaryana. Jats comprising morethan 25 percent voters wouldbe crucial in deciding the fateof a candidate in the bypoll.

The Jind bypoll, which isscheduled to be held onJanuary 28 is witnessing ahigh-pitched three-corneredelectoral battle, with theCongress’ sitting MLARandeep Singh Surjewala,Jannayak Janta Party’s DigvijayChautala and BJP’s KrishanMiddha, son of late INLDMLA Hari Chand Middha, inthe fray.

The INLD, which is facinga tough challenge to retain itsJind assembly seat has fieldedUmed Singh Redhu for the bye-election.

Yashpal Malik, president,All India Jat AarkashanSanghrash Samiti (AIJASS)while talking to The Pioneer

said, “We have got printedpamphlets, which will be dis-tributed among the people ofJind assembly constituencyasking them to carefully electtheir candidate, who promisesto fulfill the long-pendingdemands of Jat community.”

Yashpal Malik, who hadspearheaded the protest in sup-port of Jat reservation demandin January 2016 and continu-ing the agitation till now, said,“In the pamphlet, we haveasked several questions to var-ious political parties regardingour demands.”

Accusing the BJP of betray-ing the Jats on reservationissue, Malik said that the cur-rent regime has not fulfilled itspromises and we have askedthem whether they wouldaccept our demands after win-ning the Jind assembly seat.Questions regarding the role ofBJP Ministers and leaders in2016 Jat agitation have alsobeen raised in the pamphlet, he

said.Similar questions have

been asked to Congress,Jannayak Janta Party andIndian National Lok Dal onhow they plan to fulfill ourdemands, the Jat leader said.

Malik said that the com-munity will support that partyin the bypoll, which promisesreservation for Jats.

“We are currently holdingBhaichara/Jat Sandesh Yatras invillages of Haryana over ourdemands. We will also hold anational level Jat convention onFebruary 9-10 in Jassia atRohtak,” he added.

The Jat community hasbeen demanding reservation ingovernment jobs and educa-tional institutions, generalamnesty for those booked dur-ing the February 2016 Jat quotaviolence, reconsideration ofcriminal cases lodged againstJat agitators since 2010.

Malik added that theCentre’s 10 percent reservation

in government jobs and high-er education for the economi-cally backward sections in thegeneral category will not bebeneficial to Jats.

Notably, the Jat agitationin February 2016 had leftmore than 30 people dead andover 300 injured in Haryana.After the agitation, theManohar Lal KhattarGovernment in Haryana hadbuckled under pressure bygiving 10 percent reservationto Jats and five other com-munities in the state.However, the move was put onhold by the Punjab andHaryana High Court sinceMay 2016.

Since then, the Jat com-munity has been time andagain holding protests overtheir demands.

Unhappy with the BJP,another faction of AIJASSheaded by Jat leader HawaSingh Sangwan has alsoannounced to campaign

against the ruling party in theJind bye-election

“We will not support theBJP in bypoll and protestagainst the party for theirbetrayal to the Jat communi-ty,” said Sangwan.

He added that we willhold a meeting in Jind onWednesday and announce ourprotest.

The bye-election to Jindassembly seat was necessitat-ed following the demise ofHari Chand Middha inAugust. INLD’s Hari ChandMiddha had represented theJind seat for two consecutiveterms in 2009 and 2014.

While both the Congressand the INLD have won theJind assembly seat multipletimes, the BJP has never wonthe seat so far.

The bypoll result is goingto set the tone for upcomingLok Sabha elections and theassembly elections later thisyear in Haryana.

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In the season of splitting awayand rebellion in Punjab’s

political parties just before theelection time, the newbornpolitical outfits are batting fora maha-gathbandhan (grandalliance) against the tradition-al opposition parties — theCongress and the ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD).

Pressing the same, theShiromani Akali Dal (Taksali)on Monday stressed that allsuch like minded parties,including Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), and newly-constitut-ed Punjabi Ekta Party ofSukhpal Khaira, should “fightunder one umbrella”. The ideafully endorsed by the formerAAP leader and head of aregional outfit Sucha SinghChhotepur.

“SAD (Taksali) wouldsupport all the like-mindedcandidates and parties duringthe upcoming Lok Sabha elec-tions. We are with all thoseparties who are like-mindedand share similar ideology asours. All such parties willfight under one umbrella,”said SAD (Taksali) president

and Khadoor Sahib MP RanjitSingh Brahmpura on Monday.

Brahmpura, who wasaddressing media after AllIndia Sikh Students’Federation (AISSF) presidentKarnail Singh PeerMohammad joined hands withSAD (Taksali), maintainedthat his party would contestthe polls against the main-stream parties like theCongress, and Akali Dal.

He maintained that he wasin talk with the Punjabi EktaParty leader Sukhpal Khaira,“and once the consensus isformed, details in this regardwould be shared”.

“I had suggested both AAPand Khaira group to contestelections jointly, and even(Bhagwant) Mann and Khairatoo agreed on this suggestion,”he added.

Breaking way from theBadals led SAD, Brahmpuraclaimed that his party was alsoin touch with the SAD’s RajyaSabha MP Sukhdev SinghDhindsa, who had also raiseda banner of revolt against theAkali Dal, and resigned fromall party posts.

If that was not enough,

Brahmpura did not rule outpossibility of joining handswith the saffron brigade, “onlyif it break ties with Akali Dal”.

He claimed that BJP wouldsoon break away from theSAD. “But so far, we have notcontacted them, and we willnot till the BJP ends its alliancewith the SAD,” he declared,while categorically refusing toreturn to SAD even if SukhbirBadal was removed as its pres-ident.

At the same time, AAP’sPunjab unit’s former convenerSucha Singh Chhotepur, who isalso heading a regional outfit,Apna Punjab Party, also sup-ported the coming up of a“joint” third front contendingthat the divided oppositionwould give advantage to tradi-tional political parties.

“It we contest as differentpolitical parties, the votesagainst SAD and Congresswould be divided with thechances that the securitydeposits of many candidateswould be confiscated,” saidChhotepur.

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All India Sikh StudentsFederation (AISSF) presidentKarnail Singh PeerMohammad on Monday joinedhands with SAD (Taksali),recently formed after breakingaway from SAD.

Karnail resigned from thepost of president from AISSFand has joined SAD (Taksali)along with some of his follow-ers.

SAD (Taksali) presidentRanjit Singh Brahmpura alsosaid that his party would sup-port HS Phoolka in his cause toget Sikh body SGPC free frompolitical influence of SAD.

Brahmpura, addressing apress conference, said: “AllIndia Gurudwara Act has notbeen constituted in Punjabdue to the policies of formerDeputy Chief Minister andSAD president Sukhbir SinghBadal”.

“There should be an AllIndia Gurudwara Act to con-trol all gurudwaras in the state,”he said.

At the same time, he main-tained that they are in forAnandpur Sahib resolution,which advocates the real federalsystem of governance”.

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�� 4 '2-5 74

Jind Deputy CommissionerAmit Khatri on Monday

said that duties have beenassigned in view of the bye-elections to Jind assemblyconstituency.

He said that five DeputySuperintendents of Police havebeen deputed in Jind city.Three other observers havealso been deputed.

Apart from this, an officerof the Police Department hasbeen deputed with the observ-er. SDM and returning officerof bye-elections to Jind assem-bly constituency, VirenderSingh Sehrawat has beenappointed as nodal officer,he said.

He also said that in viewof the bye-elections to Jindassembly constituency, sixcandidates have withdrawntheir nominations on the last

day of withdrawing nomina-tions.

Now, no candidate wouldbe able to withdraw his or hercandidature. Those who havewithdrawn their candidatureincluded Harish Kumar ofTailiyan Mohalla Jind, AnshulKumar of Gandhi Nagar Jind,Ashok Goyal of Gandhi NagarJind, Karamvir Singh of villageBadhana, Rajender Singh ofvi l lage Rupana districtBhiwani and Pawan Jain ofShyam Colony, Jind.

Independent AnshulKumar has announced hissupport to Congress candidateRandeep Surjewala.

Meanwhile, JannayakJanta party supported candi-date, Digvijay Chautala hasbeen allotted election symbolof cup and saucer. DigvijayChautala is contesting as anindependent candidate in Jindbypoll.

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Chandigarh: Soaps made ofdonkey's milk became the starattraction at the sixth edition of'Women of India OrganicFestival' here. The Delhi-basedstartup 'Organiko' became a hitat the exhibition organised bythe Ministry of Women andChild Development.

The stall was flooded withpeople who out of curiositywanted to have a glimpse of thesoaps made of donkey's milkand many visitors even boughtthe 100 gram soap worth Rs499. Expressing her happinessover the response to the festi-val, Union Minister ManekaGandhi said the participantsfrom several states managed tosell most of their products.

The founder of 'Organiko',Pooja Kaul, said the pilot pro-ject for making these soaps wasstarted at Solapur inMaharashtra in 2017.

Rishabh, the co-founderof 'Organiko', said donkey'smilk consists of many medici-nal properties. It has anti-age-ing, anti-wrinkle propertiesand protects from bacterialinfections.

He said donkey's milk isone of the costliest milk at Rs2,000 per litre.

"Donkey's milk commandspremium price because it hasmedicinal properties and onedonkey gives maximum onelitre of milk a day," he said.

'Organiko', which wasfounded in April 2018, collab-orated with 10 families whoown 25 donkeys at Dasna inGhaziabad to manufacturethese soaps, Rishabh said.

"The demand for our prod-ucts is maximum in southernstates like Tamil Nadu andKarnataka where people aremuch aware about the benefitsof donkey milk," he said,adding that they are sellingthese soaps through outlets inJaipur and Delhi.

PTI

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SAD patriarch and Punjab’sformer Chief Minister

Parkash Singh Badal on Mondaylambasted the Congress party forstooping too low to seize controlof the SGPC and other Sikh insti-tutions as it was trying to createdivision among the Sikhs by col-luding with anti-Sikh forces toachieve the “heinous goal”.

Badal, addressing a gather-ing on the eve of Maghi Mela,said that during 80 years of hislong political stint, he learnt thatCongress party was the biggestof enemy of Punjab as well asSikhs.

“You can see the differenceby comparing it with the Modigovernment. On one hand, theCongress party is trying to grabcontrol of our gurdhams byinstigating the Sikhs againsteach other, and on the other

hand, the Modi Government isfulfilling a long pending desireof every Sikh to have hassle freeaccess to the Kartarpur SahibGurdwara,” he said.

Appreciating the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi fortaking two “historical andunprecedented” steps for theSikhs, Badal said that Khalsapanth would forever be indebt-ed to Modi sahib who took deci-sion to made the Kartarpur cor-ridor a reality and delivered jus-tice to victims of 1984 Sikh geno-cide by setting up SIT to reopenthe cases of Sikh massacre closedby the successive Congress gov-ernments.

“We never forget the peoplewho had ever sympathized withour community by their nobleacts. Modi ji has won our heartswith his noble gestures and wewant to see him as PM for thesecond term,” he said.

Stating that the Congress“exploited religious sentiments”,Badal said that it was involved in“shielding riots perpetrators andis now rewarding those peoplewith the post of Chief Ministerwho were involved in the 1984anti-Sikh genocide”.

Making an attempt to reachout to the farmers, Badal attackedthe Congress Government say-ing that it has betrayed thestate’s farming community, whilelisting out the achievements ofSAD-BJP combine governmentin their 10-year tenure.

“SAD-BJP worked for thepeople of Punjab, but all thedevelopment works started dur-ing our tenure has been stopped.All the welfare schemes, like AttaDal scheme, old-age pension,and Shagun started by SAD, havecome to a grinding halt.Presently, the CongressGovernment is an anti-people

government,” he said.SAD president Sukhbir

Badal maintained that someanti-Sikh forces were trying hardto defame Akali Dal and itssenior leadership in their des-perate attempt to gain controlover the Sikh institutions includ-ing the SGPC.

“They are misleading theSikhs by making baseless andfalse claims about the func-tioning of the SGPC. The SGPCaffairs are run by representativesof the Sikh community not bythe Badal family as they put itto misguide the Sikhs,” he said.

Dubbing the “so-called pan-thic forces” as Congress’ B-team, Sukhbir said that theyheld dharna and lifted it,blocked cavalcades of SADleaders, issued false statementsagainst the Badal family as theywere directed to do by theCongress party.

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In view of the Lok SabhaElections 2019, call centres

would be established in allelection offices in Haryana.

The service of toll freenumber 1950 would be given inall these call centres throughwhich voters would be able toget any information related totheir vote, said an officialspokesman on Monday.

He said that in view of theensuing Lok Sabha Elections,names of eligible youth, whohave attained 18 years of age,are being added to the voter list.

The spokesman said thatprogrammes are being organ-ised to make youth aware abouttheir right to vote.

Apart from this, districtlevel functions would be organ-ised on the occasion ofNational Voters’ Day on

January 25 in which the newvoters would be honoured withvoter identity card and, officersand officials, who have con-tributed significantly towardssuccess of vote making cam-paign, would also be hon-oured, he added.

The spokesman furthersaid that Charkhi Dadri, the

new district of Haryana, whichwas part of district Bhiwaniearlier, has now got its own sep-arate district election office.

Deputy Commissioner,Charkhi Dadri, Ajay SinghTomar has been appointed asdistrict electoral officer. 232polling centres have been estab-lished in Dadri AssemblyConstituency of the districtand there are total 1,83,868 vot-ers, he said.

Similarly, there are 239booths in Badhda AssemblyConstituency and total 1,76,299voters. There are a total of 471booths in Dadri and BadhdaAssembly Constituencies, hesaid.

The voter list of bothAssembly Constituencieswould be updated by nextweek. Thereafter, claims andobjections would be registeredon it, the spokesman added.

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Tattapani would be devel-oped from tourism point of

view as the area has immensepotential as a water sports des-tination, Himachal ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur said onMonday.

Addressing a public meet-ing held at Tattapani in Karsogarea of Mandi district, he saidthat due to construction of Koldam, the area has emerged asa place which could be devel-

oped as a major water sportsdestination.

Thakur said the State gov-ernment during the last oneyear has ensured equitableand balanced development ofeach and every area. A minisecretariat building and ITIbuilding has been sanctionedfor the area which would becompleted by spending anamount of Rs. 14.86 croresand about Rs. 8 crores respec-tively. He said that develop-mental works worth about

Rs. 12.76 crores have beensanctioned under PMGSY andRs 3.32 crore under NABARDfor the area.

The chief minister said thepresent State governmentinherited a loan burden of Rs.46,500 crores due to financialmismanagement of the previ-ous government.

He said that to cope upwith situation, the State gov-ernment decided to preparedevelopment projects for cen-tral funding. It was due to the

benevolence of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi thatthe State during this shortperiod on one year succeededin getting developmental pro-jects worth Rs. 9500 croresfrom the Centre.

He said in Jan Manchover 22000 grievances havebeen settled so far in differentparts of the State.

He said that underHimachal Grihini SuvidhaYojna, about 40,000 new LPGconnections have been pro-vided to the beneficiaries andHimachal would become thefirst State of the country withLGP connections in everyhousehold by the end of Maythis year.

Earlier, the Chief Ministerlaid foundation stone of con-struction of Ghats at Tattapanito be constructed by spendingan amount of Rs 123 lakh tobe sponsored by NTPC. Healso laid foundation stone ofSatluj water front beautifica-tion and protection work to becarried out at a cost of Rs105.72 lakh which will besponsored by SJVNL.

The Chief Minister alsovisited the famous Naarsinghtemple and Shani Dev templeat Tattapani and performedpooja on the occasion ofMakar Sakranti.

He presented gifts to thebeneficiaries under 'BetiBachao, Beti Padhao' schemeof the state government.

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Haryana has bagged fourawards for its good per-

formance under the NationalProgramme Beti Bachao BetiPadhao (BBBP).

The state would be award-ed in a function to be organisedby the Central Government onthe occasion of National GirlChild Day (NGCD) at NewDelhi on January 24, said anofficial spokesman.

He said that the state hasbagged one state level andthree district level awardsunder this prestigious pro-gramme.

Giving details, thespokesman said that Haryanahas been selected in the state

level category ‘over all support,guidance, monitoring andachieving the targets of BBBP’.

He said that three districtsof Haryana including Jhajjar,Kurukshetra and Karnal havealso been selected in differentcategories.

District Jhajjar has beenselected in the category‘Enabling Girl Child Education’and district Kurukshetra incategory ‘Enforcement of PreConception and Pre NatalDiagnostic Techniques Act’.Similarly, district Karnal hasbeen selected in the category‘Effective CommunityEngagement’, the spokesmansaid.

He further said that BBBPis completing four years of its

implementation. In order tomark the fourth anniversary ofBBBP, the Union Ministry ofWomen and ChildDevelopment has decided torecognize and felicitate fivestates/UTs and 25 districts fortheir exemplary performanceunder BBBP.

The theme of the National

Girl Child Day is“Empowering Girls for aBrighter Tomorrow”. The dayis being celebrated with anobjective to generate aware-ness on the issue of decliningChild Sex Ratio (CSR) andcreate a positive environmentaround valuing the girl child,he added.

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The Centre has sought nom-inations from different

ministries to expeditiously fillthe vacant post of the Directorof Prosecution in the CBI,which is presently workingwithout a regular chief follow-ing the ouster of Alok Verma.

OP Verma, who served asthe Director of Prosecution,completed his term onDecember 23 and the post hassince been vacant.

The DoP is the senior mostprosecutor in the agency ren-dering legal opinion in all thecases probed by the agency. TheDoP reports to the CBI,Director. In a communicationto all the government depart-ments, the Personnel Ministryhas asked for names of eligibleand willing officers, not belowthe rank of Joint Secretary andeligible for appointment asSpecial Public Prosecutor, offi-cials said.

The Personnel Ministryhas asked the departments tosend the names by January 25so that “an expeditious decisioncan be taken for filling the post

of Director of Prosecution inCBI”. The selection of theDirector of Prosecution ismade on the recommendationof the Central VigilanceCommission. It is a rare coin-cidence that the CBI is work-ing without a regular chiefand the DoP.

A Parliamentary panel hadrecently expressed concernsover vacant posts in the CBIand asked the Government totake proactive steps to ensurethat it does not remain under-staffed.

“Shortage of personnel atvarious levels in CBI is a peren-nial problem. The committeehas expressed its concern onthis on several occasions.

Vacancy in any organisation, toa large extent, can be antici-pated well in advance andproactive efforts should be ini-tiated to complete necessaryprocedure to fill up the vacan-cies on time.

The CBI seems to havefailed in anticipating such a sit-uation,” the panel had said inits report tabled in Parliamentearlier this month.

The CBI is working underan interim Director MNageswar Rao, AdditionalDirector, after the agency’sboss Alok Verma was removedby a panel led by the PrimeMinister Narendra based on areport alleging dereliction ofduty and graft.

New Delhi: Young diplomatsfrom 27 countries are partici-pating in a fellowship pro-gramme here that aims atequipping them with theknowledge and perspectiveson various contemporary dis-armament, non-proliferation,arms control and internation-al security affairs.

United Nations UnderSecretary General and HighRepresentative forDisarmament IzumiNakamitsu and ForeignSecretary Vijay KeshavGokhale on Monday inaugu-rated the First AnnualDisarmament andInternational Security AffairsFellowship Programme organ-ised by the MEA.

The programme is beingheld at the Foreign ServicesInstitute from January 14-February 1. It covers a range ofissues relevant to disarmamentand international security suchas global security environment,weapons of mass destruction.

PTI

�� '01�2034-

The Housing and UrbanAffairs (HUA) Ministry is

using 14 housing technologiesto make affordable housingcost effective and quality con-struction in a sustainable man-ner and environment friendlyunder Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana-Urban (PMAY-U).

The Ministry on Mondaylaunched the ‘Global HousingTechnology Challenge’ toaddress issues related to hous-ing shortage in a time-boundmanner and focus on the needfor emerging, cost effectiveand speedy construction tech-nologies. Under the initiativelaunched by the PMAY(Urban), the Government willhold ‘grand expo-cum-confer-ence’ in March where stake-holders will showcase theirbest technologies to build hous-es. Builders can opt for identi-fied technologies for timelydelivery of their projects.

According to HUA offi-cials, the Ministry is usinghousing technologies thatinclude monolithic concreteconstruction system using plas-tic and aluminum framework,monolithic concrete construc-tion system using aluminumframework, using cellular lightweight concrete slab and pre-

cast column, expanded poly-styrene core panel system, lightgauge sheet framed structure,speed floor system, Glass fibrereinforced gypsum panel build-ing system, factory made fasttrack modular building systemthat are approved and beingused for PMAY (Urban).

Against the validateddemand of about one crorehousing units to be construct-ed by the year 2022, MoHUAhas so far sanctioned around 70lakh houses, out of whicharound 37 lakh have beengrounded and around 15 lakhcompleted and allotted to ben-eficiaries.

Speaking on the occasion,HUA minister Hardeep Singh

Puri said that GHT seeks todemonstrate and deliver readyto live-in houses in a shortertime, with lower cost and qual-ity construction in a sustainablemanner. It also seeks to pro-mote future technologies, tofoster an environment ofresearch and development inthe country. At the event, NITIAayog CEO Amitabh Kantsaid that the time frame forconstruction of houses in thecountry must be reduced tofour to five months.

“Global firms will be invit-ed to India to demonstrateconstruction techniques forhousing that are affordableand take minimum time - asless as three months instead ofthe conventional three years forconstruction,” HUA SecretaryDurga Shankar Mishra hastweeted.”Global HousingTechnology Challenge-Indiawill enable a paradigm shift inthe country’s construction sec-tor,” Mishra has tweeted.

The PMAY-U mission hasfour verticals — In-situ SlumRedevelopment (ISSR),Affordable Housing inPartnership (AHP),Beneficiary-led Individualhouse construction orEnhancement (BLC), andCredit-Linked Subsidy Scheme(CLSS).

�� '01�2034-

The constitutional provisionto provide 10 per cent

reservation in Governmentjobs and education to eco-nomically backward section in the general catego-ry has come into force onMonday, a Government notifi-cation said.

The Constitution (103Amendment) Act, 2019received the assent of thePresident on Saturday.

“In exercise of the powersconferred by sub-section (2) ofsection 1 of the Constitution(One Hundred and ThirdAmendment) Act, 2019, theCentral Government herebyappoints January 14 as thedate on which the provision ofthe said Act shall come intoforce,” a gazette notification bythe Ministry of Social Justiceand Empowerment read.

The Act amends Articles15 and 16 of the Constitution,by adding a clause which allowsstates to make “special provi-sion for the advancement ofany economically weaker sec-tions of citizens”.

�� '01�2034-

Aplea was filed in theSupreme Court on

Monday seeking a direction toquash the January 10 order ofthe Government appointingIPS officer M Nageswara Raoas an interim director of theCBI.

CBI’s Additional DirectorRao was given the charge ofCBI interim chief on Januarytill the appointment of a newdirector after a high-poweredcommittee headed by PrimeMinister Narendra Modiremoved Alok Kumar Verma asthe chief of the probe agency oncharges of corruption and dere-liction of duty.

The petition, filed by NGOCommon Cause and RTIactivist Anjali Bhardwaj, hassought laying down of specif-ic mechanisms to ensure trans-parency in the process ofappointment of CBI director.

It alleged that Rao’sappointment was not made onthe basis of recommendationsof the high-powered selection

committee, comprising theprime minister, the leader ofthe single largest oppositionparty and the chief justice ofIndia or a judge of the apexcourt nominated by him.

“In fact, it appears that thecommittee was completelybypassed and had no role in theappointment of NageswaraRao, thereby rendering theappointment illegal as it is inviolation of the procedure forappointment of Director, CBIlaid down in the DSPE (Delhi

Special Police Establishment)Act,” the plea, filed throughadvocate Prashant Bhushan,said.

It stated that the order ofOctober 23 last year appointingRao as the interim CBI direc-tor was quashed by the topcourt on January 8 but the gov-ernment has “acted in a com-pletely mala fide, arbitrary andillegal manner” to appoint himagain in “complete contraven-tion” of the DSPE Act.

The plea also sought adirection to the Centre toappoint a regular CBI directorforthwith by following the pro-cedure laid down in accordancewith the provision of DSPE Act,as amended by the Lokpal andLokayuktas Act, 2013.

Besides this, the petitionhas sought a direction to thegovernment to ensure that “allrecords of deliberations andrational criteria related toshort-listing and selection ofthe director, CBI, be properlyrecorded and made available tocitizens in consonance with theprovisions of the RTI Act”.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday agreed toexamine in detail a plea seek-ing a court-monitored CBI orSIT probe into incidents ofalleged police encounters andkillings in Uttar Pradesh.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice Ranjan Gogoi andJustices Ashok Bhushan and SK Kaul perused the material onrecord and said issues raised inthe petition by the People’sUnion for Civil Liberties(PUCL) required “serious con-sideration” and fixed the hear-ing on February 12.

Senior advocate MukulRohatgi, appearing for theUttar Pradesh government,however, claimed all normsand procedures were followedby the state administration.

Earlier, the apex court hadsought response from the stategovernment on the PIL filed bythe NGO, alleging that therewere about 1,100 encounters in2017 in which 49 people werekilled and 370 injured. PTI

�� '01�2034-

Four automatic weather sta-tions and special weather

services app will work roundthe clock giving real timedetails on the prevailing weath-er conditions and forecasts fornext three days for the benefitof the people visiting the cityduring the much-toutedKumbh Mela in Prayagraj.

Union Earth SciencesMinister Dr Harsh Vardhan onMonday launched the specialweather service for the megaevent, which includes settingup of four automatic weather

stations (AWS) and a mobileapp.

The purpose of this serviceis to provide information of theprevailing weather and fore-casts for the next three days, DrHarsh Vardhan told reportershere after the launch of the appto be available on androidmobile phones.

“The real-time locationspecific weather informationwill not only be very helpful forthe local and state authoritiesin the efficient management ofthe entire event but also bene-fit the pilgrims by keepingthem abreast of the latest

weather information. It will dis-seminate the live weather infor-mation (temperature, humidi-ty, rainfall and winds) asobserved in all the above foursites,” said Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

The observation sites aredistributed in all four directionswithin the radius of 5-10 kilo-metres and are located at theAllahabad University, DelhiPublic School, GB PanthInstitute of Social Science andSam Higginbottom Universityof Agriculture, Technology andSciences (SHUATS).

The mobile app named‘KumbhMela Weather Service’

has also been developed to dis-seminate the live weather infor-mation on temperature,humidity, rainfall and winds. Inaddition, the app will also pro-vide weather forecasts andwarnings for Allahabad for thenext three days.

“The real time locationspecific weather informationwill be very helpful for the localand state authorities in theefficient management of theentire event,” the minister said.

The Kumbh starts fromTuesday and will continue untilMarch. The congregation isattended by lakhs of pilgrims.

��$�� '01�2034-

Citing Constitutional com-plexity, the Ministry of

Environment and Forests(MoEF) has rejected theDepartment of PersonnelTraining’s (DoPT) proposal torechristen the Indian ForestServices (IFS) as Indian Forestand Tribal Services (IFST).

The cadre controllingauthority of IFS, the MoEF’smove follows inter-ministerialconsultation note moved by theDoPT seeking renaming of theservice and also train its cadreto be more receptive towardstribals and forest dwellers. Therenaming of the IFS to IFTSwas suggested by the NationalCommission for ScheduledTribes (NCST) which seems tohave believed that including ‘T’in IFS acronym would ensurecordial relations between theIFS officials and tribals as bothwere in close contact witheachother.

However, turning downthe proposal, RK Singh, JointSecretary on behalf of theMoEF in a letter shot off recent-ly to the DoPT argued that“rechristening of IFS at thisjuncture would be a long drawnand complex process as it is anAll India Service constitutedunder article 321 of theConstitution of India and maynecessitate amendments of theConstitution and consultationwith the States.

“Moreover, the objective

flagged by the Commission(NCST) can be achieved byincorporating tribal welfare inthe mandate of the IFS. Perhapsthere is a need for strengthen-ing the linkages between theMoEF and the Ministry ofTribal Affairs (MoTA) to facil-itate discharge of functions asenvisaged by the commissionfor overall tribal welfare.”

However, the MoEFrefused to buy this argumentand instead suggested induct-ing IFS officials at senior levelin the Tribal Welfare Ministryfor better managementbetween tribal and forest relat-ed activities.

It said that officers (IFS)were entrusted with responsi-bilities towards not only man-agement of wildlife and forest,tribal welfare as well as sever-al fields such as RuralDevelopment, Pollution controlboth by the Central and StateGovernments.

Thus, in this regard, theMoEF suggested that “insteadof changing the name of thecadre, it will be worthwhile toinduct India Forest Serviceofficers in the Tribal Ministryas well as in the StateGovernments to look after theworks of the tribal depart-ment.”

“Moreover, it may be agood idea to have a post of DG(tribal affairs) in the tribalministry to be headed by a verysenior IFS officer,” said Singhin the letter.

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In an effort to give a fillip tocreate indigenous defence

industrial ecosystem in thecountry, Defence MinisterNirmala Sitharaman will for-mally launch the Tamil Nadudefence corridor atTiruchirappalli on January 20.It will be second such corridorafter the first one in UttarPradesh was inaugurated inAligarh in August last year.

Apart from major industryinteraction there will be threemain things. Announcement ofnew investments both byDefence Public SectorUndertakings (DPSU) and pri-vate sector, launch of some newdefence products and launch ofa defence innovation hub inCoimbatore, Secretary DefenceProduction Ajay Kumar toldthe media here on Monday.Two defence corridors -- one inTamil Nadu and the other inUttar Pradesh - was announcedin this year’s budget.

On the reasons for TamilNadu being chosen for thecorridor, Kumar said it isalready a major manufacturingstare in the country and has amajor auto component hub.Tamil Nadu will be very goodfor aero components due to itsauto expertise and proximity toBangalore, he said talking of thefuture scope of the corridorsand stating that there is a fairmomentum for export of aerocomponents from India andhas a huge scope for furthergrowth. Multinational consul-tancy firm Ernst & Young(E&Y) has been appointed as aconsultant to draw a roadmapon how the cluster is envisionedto grow.

The corridor like the one inUP will have six nodes aroundwhich investments are expect-ed to grow. They includeHosur, Salem, Coimbatore,Tiruchirappalli, Madurai andChennai. The nodes stand outas key areas growing industri-alisation, Kumar added.

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The Indian HighCommission in Islamabad

has strongly raised withPakistan alleged attempts tohack the social media accountof one of its diplomats and inci-dents of close tailing of theIndian envoy and his deputy,official sources said.

The Indian mission, in anote verbale, raised withPakistan Foreign Office theincident of the Indian High

Commissioner and his deputybeing put under an aggressivewatch by a Pakistani securityofficial during a weddingreception on December 4 inSerena Hotel in Islamabad.

The sources said attemptswere made to hack the socialmedia account of the secondsecretary and that the officialreceived an email fromFacebook administration thatrepeated attempts were madeby unknown people to log intohis Facebook account.

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The Supreme Court onMonday issued notice to

the Centre on a plea challeng-ing the notification authorising10 central agencies to intercept,monitor and decrypt any com-puter system and sought aresponse within six weeks.

The PIL challenging thegovernment’s December 20notification came up before abench headed by Chief JusticeRanjan Gogoi.

According to the notifica-tion, 10 central probe andsnoop agencies are empoweredunder the InformationTechnology (IT) Act for com-puter interception and analysis,Home Ministry officials said.

The 10 agencies notifiedunder the new order are theIntelligence Bureau, NarcoticsControl Bureau, EnforcementDirectorate, the Central Boardof Direct Taxes (for Income TaxDepartment), Directorate of

Revenue Intelligence, CentralBureau of Investigation,National Investigation Agency,the Research and AnalysisWing, Directorate of SignalIntelligence (in service areas ofJ-K, North East and Assam)and Delhi Police commission-er.

The plea, filed by advocateManohar Lal Sharma, termedthe notification “illegal, uncon-stitutional and ultra vires to thelaw”.

He also sought to prohib-it the agencies from initiatingany criminal proceedings,enquiry or investigation againstanybody under the provisionsof the IT Act based on the noti-fication.

The petition alleged thatthe notification gives the statethe right to access every com-munication, computer andmobile and “to use it to protectpolitical interest and object ofthe present executive politicalparty”.

New Delhi: The SupremeCourt on Monday refused toquash the Pune police’s FIRagainst civil rights activistAnand Teltumbde in connec-tion with the Elgar Parishad-Koregaon Bhima violence andfor his alleged Maoist links.

The apex court also refusedto interfere with the ongoinginvestigation in the case.

However, a Bench com-prising Chief Justice RanjanGogoi and justices AshokBhushan and SK Kaul extend-ed the interim protection fromarrest granted to Teltumbde bythe Bombay High Court byfour weeks. The apex court saidTeltumbde could seek regularbail from the competent trialcourt in the meantime.

“We do not think it is a fitcase for the grant of the reliefsought,” the bench said, addingthat it was not inclined to giveany further relief other thanextending the interim protec-tion from arrest as the investi-gation in the case was at anadvanced stage. PTI

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Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee has vehe-

mently criticised the NarendraModi Government’s “vendettapolitics” after the Income TaxDepartment started issuingsummons to the organisers ofvarious Durga Puja committeesof Kolkata.

A fuming Banerjee saidthat the people from all seg-ments and all walks of life irre-spective of their caste andcreed take part in Durga Pujamaking it a mass event. Butnow “they (CentralGovernment) is sendingnotices to the Durga Puja com-mittees seeking report on theirexpenditure. The Puja com-

mittees are being asked to payincome tax and show TDScertificates. But these are non-profit organisations. Why willthey have to pay income tax?”

Banerjee personally goeson to inaugurate most of theimportant Durga Pujas inKolkata for a number of daysapparently making them bigtourist attractions. In fact herGovernment gives a yearlygrant of Rs 10,000 to all the bigbudget Durga Puja committeesto enable them perform in abetter manner.

Notices were served by theIT Department under Section133(6) of the IT Act to theDurga Puja committees askingthem to explain their incomeand expenditure.

A livid Chief Minister whohas taken personal initiative topromote the festivities as aworld class carnival wonderedwhether the Modi Governmentwas “trying to stop Durga Pujain Bengal? I urge the DurgaPuja committees to unite andrefrain from going to the IT

Department because BJP istrying to stop the most impor-tant cultural activity of Bengaland we will not allow them todo that.”

The Centre was allowingthe champion fraudsters todecamp with thousands ofcrores of people’s money butwas harassing the small DurgaPuja committees of Bengal,Banerjee said.

The Chief Minister whoalso criticised the transfer ofCBI Director Alok Verma as an“act of vendetta” and an “unfor-tunate moment for the coun-try” said all the institutions andpolitical parties that were ques-tioning the acts done by theBJP were being attacked andvictimised by the Government.

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The political skyline of Tamil Nadu is getting readyfor the battle of ballots which may happen any-

time in the months of April or May. Tuesday marksthe beginning of the Tamil month of Thai which ush-ers in the season of harvesting, Pongal festivities andrural sporting events. Thai is rated as the most aus-picious month and even rationalist Dravidian politi-cians go by the proverb “Thai Piranthal VazhiPirakkum” (Tamil for Thai will show the way).

O Panneerselvam, Deputy CM, who also headsthe coordination committee of the AIADMK, gaveenough hints on Monday about the developments thatare going to take place in Tamil Nadu politics in thecoming days. Speaking to reporters at Madurai wherehe has come to inaugurate the traditional rural sportof Jallikkattu (bull taming), Panneerselvam said hisparty would forge a mega alliance with like-mindedparties to face the upcoming Lok Sabha election. Hedid not disclose the names of the parties which wouldbe the constituents of the mega alliance.

This was followed by a disclosure by TamilisaiSounderarajan, president, State BJP, who said thatunion minister for power Piyush Goyal wouldreach Chennai on January 18 for discussions with var-ious friendly parties as part of the BJP’s attempt tofinalise a winnable alliance for the parliament elec-tion. “There are many political parties in Tamil Naduwhich have expressed their desire to join hands withthe BJP,” said Sounderarajan. She did not disclose thenames of the parties.

But sources in Tamil Nadu BJP told The Pioneerthat Goyal would definitely meet leaders of theAIADMK, PMK, Puthiya Tamizhagam led by DrKrishnasamy and the DMDK of Vijayakant. “Goyalhas fine rapport with AIADMK leaders as he wasinteracting with them on a one-to-one basis to sortout the issues faced by Tamil Nadu, whether it bemaking available coal for the thermal power stationsin the State and to address the shortfall in power,”said the BJP leader.

Port Blair: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman onMonday watched a joint amphibious exercise, par-ticipated by the three armed forces, off the CampbellBay coast, the southernmost island of the nation.

Andaman and Nicobar is an Integrated ServicesCommand. Sitharaman also reviewed the operationalreadiness of the command. The exercise, conduct-ed near Campbell Bay, included 10 ships, six aircraftand 700 troops of the Command, a defence ministrystatement said.

The Marine Commando (MARCO) unit of theIndian Navy and specialist platoon (GHATAK) of theIndian Army displayed their operational capabilitiesby carrying out helocasting and beach assault.

While returning from Campbell Bay, Sitharamanvisited the southernmost part of India, the IndiraPoint, the statement added. The Defence Minister wasgiven a demonstration on jungle survival skills atMilitary Station, Birchgunj. Later, she inaugurated thephase II of Married Accommodation Project (MAP)that includes 868 dwelling units for the troops ofAndaman Nicobar Command. PTI

Lucknow: Contradictionsbetween Opposition partieswon’t be allowed to hamper thefight against the saffron party inthe Lok Sabha elections as “theaim is same, to remove the BJP”,RJD leader Tejashwi Yadavstressed on Monday, seeking todownplay the Congress’ exclu-sion from the BSP-SP alliancein Uttar Pradesh.

The Samajwadi Party andthe Bahujan Samaj Party onSaturday announced theiralliance in Uttar Pradesh, shar-ing 38 seats each and leaving twoseats for smaller parties. Theyalso left Rae Bareli and Amethiseats for UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi and Congress chiefRahul Gandhi respectively.

To a question on theCongress being left out of thealliance in UP, the RJD leader,whose party is in alliance withthe grand old party in Bihar,said, “The aim is same, todefeat the BJP... All saw how theSP and BSP gave a stern replyto the BJP in the recent bypolls

(in UP). The result is beforeeveryone.”

Sharing the dias withSamajwadi Party chief AkhileshYadav, the RJD leader toldreporters, “You must also haveseen the statement of RahulGandhi that whether he isthere or not, BJP will not getseats and this is enough.”

“We are not different...They win here, we win there, itis the same thing,” TejashwiYadav, who also met Mayawation Sunday, said.

Asked who will campaignfor whom during the pollshustings, Tejashwi Yadav saidwhoever is required will go out

for campaigning in UttarPradesh and Bihar, which areboth big States.

While announcing thealliance on Saturday, Mayawatihad said,”In the past I have seenthat our votes get transferred tothe Congress, but not vice-versa. We do not gain from analliance with the Congress,whereas the vote transfer is per-fect in an SP-BSP tie-up.”

Drawing a parallel betweenthe BJP and the Congress, theBSP chief had also said theCongress had imposedEmergency while the BJP isresponsible for an undeclaredEmergency. PTI

Lakhimpur Kheri/Bahraich:Kashmir is still a challenge due todestabilising activities by Pakistan,Union Home Minister RajnathSingh said here on Monday.

He was talking to mediaper-sons after inaugurating the admin-istrative building, residential blockand officers’ mess at the SSB sec-tor headquarters in Lakhimpur.

“Kashmir is still a challenge dueto destabilising activities by neigh-bouring Pakistan. However, theArmy, the CRPF, the J&K Police andintelligence bureau men are actingin better coordination,” he said.

Speaking about Naxal inci-dents, the Home Minister saidthey had dropped by 50 per centduring the last four years.

Extremist violence in north-

eastern areas saw a decline of 80 percent, Singh said.

Lauding improvements madeon the internal security front, hesaid, “No major terrorist incidenthad taken place in India during thelast four-and-a-half years (of theNarendra Modi Government).”Singh said the country’s economytoday was counted as the world’sfastest growing.

“By 2030, the Indian economywould rank among top threeeconomies of the world,” he said.

“The Modi Government haslaunched the world’s largest uni-versal health care schemeAyushmaan Bharat which has ben-efitted 7.5 lakh people so far,”Singh said.

The Union Minister also visit-

ed Bahraich, where he laid thefoundation stone of the State’s firstIntegrated Check Post (ICP) at theIndo-Nepal border in Rupaidehaarea. The ICP was constructed ata cost of Rs 200 crore.

Singh said the security forceswere tackling well the terroristspushed into India by Pakistan.

“Pakistan sends terrorist toseparate Jammu & Kashmir fromIndia, but the security forces aredealing well with the anti-nation-al elements and terrorists,” he said.

Responding to a questionabout the alliance between theSamajwadi Party and the BahujanSamaj Party in Uttar Pradesh,Singh said the BJP would win notless than 72 seats in the upcomingLok Sabha elections. PTI

New Delhi: An SP-BSP alliance inUttar Pradesh without the Congresswas exactly what the BJP wanted initially and the two region-al parties have fallen into the rul-ing party’s design, the Congresssaid on Monday.

Spokesperson RPN Singh saidthe BJP wanted the secular partiesto remain divided in the political-ly crucial Uttar Pradesh before the

2019 Lok Sabha election and con-test independently so that theirvotes could be split. Its attemptshave proved successful, he added.

On Sunday, the Congress saidit would contest on all 80 Lok Sabhaseats in Uttar Pradesh in the gen-eral election, expected in April-May. That the party was left out ofthe SP-BSP alliance would notaffect its prospects and the

Congress would contest with “fullforce”, it had said.

On Monday, Singh tried to raisedoubts over the longevity of thealliance, wondering whether it wouldlast till the UP Assembly election. Healso asked whether now BSP chiefMayawati and SP leader AkhileshYadav would attack Prime MinisterNarendra Modi on “corruption” inthe Rafale jet deal. PTI

Patna: No case of humans get-ting infected with the bird fluvirus has been detected inBihar so far, a senior StateGovernment official said.

“Among the reported casesof suspected or confirmed birdflu, we have not come acrosswith any such incident (ofhumans getting infected withthe virus) so far,” Health depart-ment Principal Secretary SanjayKumar told reporters here.

The first incident of sus-pected avian influenza wasreported from six villages ofAsarganj block of Munger dis-trict in December. The Statehas, so far, found samples pos-itive for bird flu from fourplaces - two places in Mungerand one each in Banka and inthe zoo in Patna.

“There are chances that theanimal husbandry departmentemployees may get affected(with bird flu) as they come incontact with dead birds, but nosuch incidents have come toour notice,” he said.

The officer said it is theresponsibility of health depart-ment to get one “affected” per-

son tested to ensure whether heor she actually infected withbird flu.

The medicine ‘Tamiflu’,used for the treatment of theperson infected with bird flu, isavailable in sufficient quantityand the Central Governmenthas also dispatched more med-icines after the incident, Kumarsaid. Asked whether thedepartment has issued anyguideline for consumption ofeggs and chickens, Kumar said,“We have asked people to takeprecautions.” Earlier onSaturday, Animal and FishResources Department hadsaid people can consume eggsand chickens after cookingthem above 70 degrees Celsiustemperature as the virus getdestroyed on this temperature.

“It is safe to consume eggsand chicken because normallythey are cooked at very hightemperature (beyond 70degrees) in our households. Sothere is no need to be panicky,”Animal and Fish ResourcesDepartment’s Secretary NVijayalakshmi had said.

PTI

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Upping the ante on the 2017Kodanad estate heist video

clip, DMK on Monday urgedGovernor Banwarilal Purohitto direct Chief Minister KPalaniswami to resign from hispost to ensure a free and fairprobe into the matter.

The main Opposition partydemanded probe by a SpecialInvestigation Team, comprisingofficers of the rank of InspectorGeneral of Police and furtherinvestigation into the “myste-rious death” of alleged key con-spirator Kanagaraj. The relatedcase is before the District andSessions Judge, Nilgiris.

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Veteran Congress leader andformer chairman of the

Maharashtra LegislativeCouncil Shivajirao Deshmukhdied on Monday in hospital here due to prolonged illness.

He was 84. Deshmukh hadbeen facing several healthissues since the last fewmonths, following which hewas admitted in BombayHospital for treatment, where

he breathed his last thisevening, the hospital authori-ties said.

He was on dialysis for thelast couple of years, a source inhis family said.

Deshmukh, who hadserved as revenue minister inthe Vasantsada PatilGovernment in 1976-85, hailedfrom Shirala tehsil in Sanglidistrict of westernMaharashtra.

His last rites will be per-formed at Shirala on Tuesday.

Jaipur: Senior BJP MLA GulabChand Kataria took oath as the protem speaker of the RajasthanAssembly on Monday. The pro temspeaker will conduct the first meet-ing of the 15th Legislative Assemblywhich is beginning Tuesday, andaccording to the state government’sproposal, election of the new speak-er will be held on January 16.

Governor Kalyan Singh admin-istered Kataria oath at a ceremony atthe Raj Bhawan here. Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot, his deputy SachinPilot, members of the council of min-isters, BJP MLA Rajendra Rathoreand others attended the event.

Outgoing speaker KailashMeghwal, however, skipped the func-

tion. Meghwal had recently accusedthe state government of not adheringto parliamentary rules and traditionsin summoning the first Session,which is beginning from Tuesday.

He had alleged that neither thechief minister nor the StateParliamentary Affairs Minister heldformal discussion with him beforerecommending to the Governor forsummoning the Session, which hesaid, is mandatory.

Once a new Speaker is elected,Kataria, who was the home ministerin the previous government, will bethe leader of opposition whileRajendra Rathore will be his Deputy (Leader of Opposition) in the Assembly. PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala hasbeen at the receiving end after thefloods and lost around 18 per centof the tourists the State used toreceive earlier, Minister of State(independent charge) for TourismAlphons Kannanthanam said on Monday.

He told reporters here that asa Minister and a Keralite, he wasnot happy with ranking of the statein the tourism sector of the coun-try. Kannathanam said PrimeMinister Narendra Modi would onJanuary 15 inaugurate a tourismproject related to thePadmanabhaswami temple here,

under the spiritual circuit themeof the swadesh darshan project.

The project of the Centre wasto develop the basic facilities inand around the religious institu-tions across the country. Swadeshdarshan links at least three majortourists destinations of the coun-try. There are 77 such projects andover Rs 6,300 crore has beensanctioned, he said.

Kannathanam also said 60 percent of Indian tourists were attract-ed towards spiritual tourism. “That’swhy we are developing the regionsaround the religious institutions.Under this scheme we have sanc-

tioned 75.88 crore forPadmanabhaswami temple andover 95 per cent work has beencompleted,” the Minister said.

He also said the state was setto receive tourists and the indus-try was ready after the August del-uge. “I heard that according to pre-liminary reports, Kerala has beenreceiving 18 per cent less touristsafter the floods. This is even as weare ready to receive them after thefloods. People outside still thinkthat we are yet to get ready,” hesaid. The minister also said hisministry was concentrating onattracting tourists from large mar-

kets across the globe.“We are concentrating on cap-

turing the large markets across theglobe - like China. Last year, 144million people from China went outof that country. We got only twolakh of that crowd. We need to re-route at least 10 per cent of Chinesetourists to our country in the nextfew years,” he said. Kannathanamrubbished the earlier claim of stateministers that only Rs 18 crore wassacntioned by the Centre for thedevelopment of Sabarimala andsaid the rest would be given onlyafter receiving the utilisation reportof the first installment. PTI

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Kolkata: The Congress and the BSP are yet to con-firm their participation in the mega Opposition rallyproposed by the TMC on January 19 ahead of thegeneral elections. Leaders of various other Oppositionparties have already confirmed their participation,TMC sources said.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremoMamata Banerjee had earlier in the day said that she had a telephonic conversation with SP chiefAkhilesh Yadav and that he had assured his presenceat the rally.

“Such a major meeting of Opposition parties hasnot happened in recent times,” she told reporters atthe state secretariat. PTI

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Animal rights activists acrossKolkata on Monday erupt-

ed in anger demanding strictestpolice action against the accusedafter 17 puppies, including theirplausible mother were literallybludgeoned to death by twomost unlikely persons — nurs-ing interns in one of city’s lead-ingmedical colleges.

Video clippings apparent-ly taken from inside an adjacentdental medical college hostel atSealdah in North Kolkatashowed two nursing internsruthlessly clubbing the puppi-esthat whined helplessly.

The footages showed theperpetrators of the crime jam-ming the escape route beforerepeatedly attacking the haplesscanines with sticks and block-

ing their ways whenever theytried to retire to safety.

After each assassinationthe accused examined thembefore slipping them insideplastic carry-packs and throw-ing them away.

Postmortem reports citedinternal injuries as the cause ofdeaths of the poor dogs mostof which were found with bro-ken limbs and fractured skull,

sources said. Initial suspicionsof the litters being poisonedbeing poisoned was also ruledout by the autopsy report,sources said.

“We were on the thirdfourth of our building andwere yelling relentlessly fromour side asking the ladies tostop the act. But as we couldnot go to their side of the cam-pus we decided to take video

shots for the benefit of someNGOs,” said one of the dentalcollege students.

Another of his colleaguessaid “After there was no replyfrom the NGOs we uploaded itin Facebook and saw it goingviral within hours.”

Meanwhile, Jayanti Ghoshan animal rights activist and alawyer demanded strictest pos-sible action against the perpe-

trators of the crime even asKolkata’s civil society eruptedin great anger demandingexemplary action.

Surojit, a Bangla playbacksinger, said, “I cannot see ithappening even on the Net.Such a ghastly act. If they hadproblems with the puppiesthen they could have reportedit to the authorities or even theCorporation. Why murderthem and that too so merci-lessly.” Cases have been regis-tered under various sections ofthe Indian Penal Code andPrevention of Corruption Actand “those found guilty wouldbe strongly dealt with,” policesources said while the NRSMCauthorities said the internswould be rusticated if the alle-gations brought against themwere found to be true.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will don the pen for

the readers of Thuglak, thepopular Tamil magazinefounded by Cho Ramaswamy.Modi, who had been a regularparticipant in the previousanniversary meetings of themagazine, a major event inTamil Nadu’s cultural calendar,told the readers of Thuglak thatthey were welcome to send himquestions which he wouldanswer in the next issue of thepublication.

Rich tributes were paid by Modi to Cho Ramaswamy,founder editor of Thuglakon Monday in connection with 49th anniversary of itspublication.

“Greetings to the readers ofThuglak as the magazine marksits 49th anniversary. I also paymy tributes to the fearless andphenomenal Cho Ramaswamy,who nurtured Thuglak andtook it to new heights,” the Prime Minister said in aTwitter message.

“I have often been a part of

the anniversary celebrationsof Thuglak but unfortunately,this time I have not been ableto. However, I request the read-ers to send me their questions,which I would be glad toanswer in the next issue,” thePrime Minister tweeted. Hismessages were read out by S Gurumurthy, the currenteditor and publisher of themagazine.

What marked the anniver-sary celebrations was the ques-tion posed by reader of Thuglalwhich were answered byGurumurthy. To a question byone of the readers about thepossible winner in the Lok sabha election from TamilNadu, Gurumurthy said the DMK has a slight edge overthe AIADMK.

“This is because the DMKhas a leader while theAIADMK is handicapped bythe absence of a strong leader.But that does not mean that itis going to be easy for theDMK,” he said.

Gurunurthy ruled out thepossibility of Rahul Gandhibecoming the next PrimeMinister of the country. “The

Congress, his own party, is notconfident about it. PChidambaram, described asthe strongman of the party hasalso made it celar that RahulGandhi would not be the PrimeMinister,” said Gurumurthy.

When asked about the pos-sibility of Narendra Modi get-ting re-elected as the PrimeMinister, he said it would bedecided by the electorate.“People always favour a strongleader. In 1971, when I was anordinary worker of theCongress which was led by thelegendary Kamaraj, I have seenIndira Gandhi winning theelection because all wereagainst her. The situation issimilar to that now. The election has turned out toa Modi versus Rest bout,” saidthe chartered accountant-turned columnist.

The anniversary meeting ofThuglak is an indication to theway electorate of Tamil Nadu isthinking and ChoRamaswamy used to enthraland electrify the audience withhis witty and sharp observa-tions about the political scenesgetting unfolded in the State.

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Police in Goa have prose-cuted around 7.74 lakh traf-

fic violators in 2018, whichamounts to more than half ofthe State’s population of 1.5million, according to statisticsreleased by Director General ofPolice Muktesh Chander.

Addressing a Press confer-ence on Monday in Panaji, thesenior officer also said that itwas “absurd” to attribute adrop in tourism footfalls to Goadue to harassment of tourists bytraffic police personnel.

“There has been a signifi-cant increase of 48 per cent inprosecution of traffic offendersas compared to the corre-sponding year. Notably, theGoa Police prosecuted 7,74,578traffic violators and collectedfines amounting to Rs 9.19crore (in 2018),” a statementreleased by the DGP said.

State’s population accord-ing to the 2011 official censusis 14.59 lakh. Calling accusa-tions from the travel andtourism industry stakeholdersthat tourism footfalls in Goahave dropped because of

harassment of tourists by traf-fic police as “absurd”, Chandersaid the Motor Vehicles Actmakes no distinction betweentourists and local residents.

“There is nothing whichsays that foreigners are exempt-ed from the Motor Vehicles Actin India. Is there a law by theTourism Department anywherethat (says) they are exempted?So there is nothing like that.Everybody has to follow trafficlaws,” he told the media.

“And if a traffic officer isprosecuting a traffic offender,it does not matter whether heis a foreigner or whether he isa tourist or whether he is a localGoan. So there is no question

of harassment. “People should obey traffic

rules. That is all. Nobody willharass them,” Chander said,adding that if there were specificcomplaints of harassment, thenthe police would be willing tolook into them. The Oppositionin the past has also accused traf-fic policemen of harassingtourists, especially those drivingself-driven vehicles hired inGoa or travelling in vehicleswith outstation number plates.

Goa is one of the top beachand nightlife tourism destina-tions in the country and lastyear attracted more than sevenmillion tourists, out of whichhalf a million were foreigners.

Patna: Leaders of the rulingNDA in Bihar on Mondaysought to project an image ofbonhomie as they treatedthemselves to sumptuous help-ings of dahi-chura (curd andflattened rice) as part of MakarSankranti festivities.

Chief Minister NitishKumar, his deputy Sushil KumarModi and Union Minister RamVilas Paswan moved from onevenue to another to join the feast hosted by leaders of thethree NDA constituents in a dis-play of unity.

The BJP, the JD(U) and theLJP have already announcedseat-sharing among them forthe coming Lok Sabha elections.

At the Lok Janshakti Party stateheadquarters, its founding pres-ident Ram Vilas Paswanaccorded a warm welcome toGovernor Lalji Tandon, ChiefMinister Kumar and DeputyChief Minister Modi.

Paswan was joined by hisson and LJP parliamentaryboard chief Chirag Paswan andbrothers Ram Chandra Paswanand Pashupati Kumar Paras,MP and Minister in BiharGovernment respectively, inwelcoming the guests, whowere also treated to other del-icacies prepared with jaggeryand til (sesame), consumptionof which is believed to be aus-picious on this day. PTI

Guwahati: Black flags werewaved at Assam Chief MinisterSarbananda Sonowal in hisconstituency Majuli onMonday and RTI activist AkhilGogoi went on a 24-hourhunger strike on the first day ofAssamese Magh or BhogaliBihu festivities as agitationagainst the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill continued.

Sonowal was shown black

flags for the second consecutiveday by members of AsomJatiyatabadi Yuva ChatraParishad, Krishak MuktiSangram Samiti and severalother local organisations inMajuli, when he arrived thereby helicopter to participate inan official function.

The protestors shouted slo-gans against the Chief Minister,the Centre and State

Governments and demandedwithdrawal of the controversialBill. Police took several pro-testors into custody and dis-persed the others. On Sundaytoo, Sonowal was shown blackflags by the AJYCP and theKrishak Mukti Sangram Samiti(KMSS) protestors outside theKaziranga University where hehad gone to participate in itsconvocation. PTI

Ahmedabad: Three persons,including a child, were killedafter their throats got slit by kitestrings during Uttarayan fes-tivities in Gujarat, police saidon Monday. Several otherswere injured in separate inci-dents across the State afterfalling off rooftops while flyingkites, an official added.

A Mehsana police officialsaid eight-year-old TehjeebKhan died at the local civil hos-pital after suffering a severeneck injury due to a kite string.

“Tehjeeb was riding a bicy-cle when a kite string slit histhroat,” he said. Ashok Panchal(45), who was riding a motor-cycle, was similarly killed instant-ly near Dholka in Ahmedabaddistrict, an official said. PTI

Sabarimala: Thousands ofLord Ayyappa devotees onMonday witnessed the auspi-cious ‘makaravilakku’, the rit-ualistic ‘deeparadhana’ (aarthi)held at Ponnambalamedu, thehill facing the shrine, as part ofthe annual festivities.

Braving heavy rush, the pil-grims queued up for hours tohave a glimpse of LordAyyappa, carrying the ‘irumu-di kettu’ (the traditional bun-dle a devotee brings to theshrine) over their heads. The‘sannidhanam’, the temple com-plex, reverberated with LordAyyappa hymns as the portalsof the sanctum sanctorum wasthrown open for the ‘deeparad-hana’ in the evening, which wasperformed to the idol of thedeity, adorned with holy jew-els ‘thiruvabharanam’. PTI

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The BJP on Monday held a meeting of its senior functionar-ies from Kashmir and asked them to work on the ground to

connect with the masses and counter “misleading propaganda”of rival parties ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The meeting chairedby BJP state secretary Ashok Kaul was held at party headquar-ters here and was attended by senior leaders from Kashmir, includ-ing Altaf Thakur and Arif Raja besides state general secretariesNarinder Singh and Sunil Sharma, a BJP spokesman said.

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Ever since the Narendra ModiGovernment moved theCitizenship (Amendment) Bill,2016 in the Winter Session ofParliament to provide critical sup-

port to the adherents of Indic religions, whoface virtual extermination in neighbouringIslamic nations like Pakistan, Bangladesh andAfghanistan, the usual pseudo-secular sus-pects have crawled out of the woodwork andonce again raised the hackneyed argumentabout how ‘Secular India’ can make specialprovision for the persecuted Hindus, Sikhs,Buddhists and Jains in India’s neighbourhood.

The Bill, which has been passed by theLok Sabha, seeks to provide critical human-itarian support by way of citizenship to per-secuted religious minorities in India’s neigh-bourhood belonging to Indic religions, theParsis and the Christians. This ought to havebeen done soon after the creation of IslamicPakistan in August, 1947, because the newnation was inaugurated with bloody assaultson religious minorities. The Bill, which seeksto correct the Indian state’s seven-decade-longcriminal neglect of its primary responsibil-ity towards the oppressed minorities of Indicorigin, speeds up the process of grant ofIndian citizenship to those who are forced toseek refuge in India. It also seeks to releasethem from some of the rigours of theForeigners’ Act and the Passport Act.

The Bill seeks to address a congenitalmalady that the then Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru ignored. While Indiadeclared itself a secular state which guaran-teed equal rights to all citizens when it becameindependent, Pakistan became an Islamicstate and offered no such guarantees to its reli-gious minorities. Apart from the bloody riotsat the time of Partition, a systematic pogrombegan in Pakistan against the Hindus andother Indic communities. This campaignlargely promoted by the Pakistan statereached such proportions that the PrimeMinisters of the two countries met for sev-eral days in New Delhi in April, 1950, andeventually signed what is known as theNehru-Liaqat pact which “solemnly” assuredthat the two Governments would ensure“complete equality of citizenship, full senseof security, personal honour, freedom of cul-ture and worship” to all religious minorities.The pact also guaranteed equal rights forminorities to hold political office and saidboth nations would take steps to enforce themeffectively. However, while India incorporat-ed all these guarantees for minorities in itsConstitution, Pakistan did not do so. It justmade a mention of it in the objectives reso-lution adopted by its Constituent Assembly.Even as the Pakistan Prime Minister returnedto his country, the pact proved to be a sham.

This is a 70-year-old tragic tale that is stillbeing played out but at least now there is aGovernment in Delhi which has the gump-tion to stand up for the persecuted minori-ties of Pakistan.

Those opposing this humanitarian leg-

islation are claiming that specif-ic relief to adherents of Indicreligions threatens India’s “sec-ular fabric.” This is in line withthe moth-eaten anti-Hindupolicies devised by JawaharlalNehru and carried on by theCongress and its Marxist fellow-travellers all these years. Hereare some reasons why this pseu-do-secular policy framework,which is basically anti-Hinduand meant to deny Hindustheir natural right to live in orreturn to Bharat, which hasbeen their homeland for millen-nia, must be thrown out lock,stock and barrel: Ever since thecreation of the Islamic state ofPakistan in 1947, hostilitytowards the religious minoritieshas been rampant in that coun-try. How ruthless the Muslimsof Pakistan have been towardsthese minorities is evident fromthe following statistics.

In 1941, adherents of Indicreligions constituted 19.69 percent of the population ofPakistan. The Islamic statecame into being on August 14,1947, and within four years, thepopulation of Hindus, amongothers, had crashed to 1.59 percent. Four decades later, it hov-ered around the same figureand stood at 1.64 per cent andhas been thereabouts ever since.So, what happened to theHindus of Pakistan, who con-stituted one-fifth of the popu-lation of that nation when it wasborn? They were either slaugh-tered or converted, while somesections of them, who could nolonger bear the persecution,

crossed over to India. However,despite their pathetic plight, theCongress, completely underthe grip of Jawaharlal Nehru’spseudo-secular policies, refusedto speak up for them and raiseits voice against this appallingtragedy, because the Congress’brand of “secularism” prohib-ited it from speaking up forHindus et al even if they werebeing systematically extermi-nated. Also, Nehruvian “secu-larism” forbade the party andthe Union Government fromoffering succour to the Hinduswho came in as refugees. Thisgrossly inhuman approach tothe plight of the Hindus inPakistan continued during theIndira Gandhi and RajivGandhi regimes as well.

To begin with, Pakistancomprised west and eastPakistan but the eastern wingbroke away, leading to the cre-ation of the Bangladesh, whichhas Islam as its state religion, in1971. However, the vivisectionof Pakistan did not providemuch relief to the personsbelonging to Indic religions, ascan be seen in the figures givenbelow: In 1941, the adherents ofIndic religions constituted 29.61per cent of the population ofwhat is now Bangladesh. Thisdeclined to 22.79 per cent in1951 and had dropped precip-itously to 11.10 per cent in 1991.Recent estimates put the per-centage of these religiousminorities in Bangladesh tobelow eight per cent. Duringthese six decades since 1941, thepercentage of Muslims in

Bangladesh has risen from 70.26per cent to over 90 per cent.(Those who wish to learn moreabout the tragic plight of reli-gious minorities in the Islamicstates bordering India mustread Religious Demography inIndia, a comprehensive workthat will shake the people out oftheir pseudo-secular slumber,authored by AP Joshi, MDSrinivas and JK Bajaj of theCentre for Policy Studies,Chennai. The figures cited hereare from this work).

Meanwhile, as the Hindus,Sikhs, Buddhists and Jainsvanished from the demograph-ic charts of Pakistan andBangladesh, the Muslimsthrived in democratic India.They were around 35 millionat the time of independenceand constituted 10.43 per centof India’s population in 1951.In 2011, the Muslim popula-tion in India had crossed 14.20per cent and in real termsstood at 172 million. Yet, Indiashould not offer shelter to theHindus who are fleeing theIslamic states!

There are a dozen morereasons why the arguments ofthe Nehruvian and Marxistschools must be treated withthe contempt they deserve.The Citizenship AmendmentBill, 2016, introduced by theModi Government is, there-fore, a crucial piece of legisla-tion to correct a historic wrongperpetuated by Nehru and hisfollowers over the last 70 years.

(The writer is Chairman,Prasar Bharati)

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This refers to the editorial, “TheBua-bhatija dare” (January 14).There can be no second opinionthat alliance between theSamajwadi Party (SP) and theBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) hasgiven the BJP jitters. By agreeingto share the seats equally amongthemselves, the two parties havemade sure that no fissures shoulderupt between them in the future.

The seat-sharing formula setby the SP and BSP has also left theCongress high and dry. The grandold party, should, however, lendits support to the alliance becauseits goal, too, is the same — to takeon the BJP. Congress leaders,who went on record to say thatthey won’t mind compromisingwith other like-minded partiesand would even sacrifice theirinterests to defeat the BJP regime,should now walk the talk in thelarger interest of the country.

Tharcius S FernandoChennai

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Sir — This refers to the article,“Return of Dame Dikshit”

(January 12) by Rinku Ghosh. Ata time when Congress chief RahulGandhi has been harping on theyouth to helm the party at Statelevels, the appointment of veter-an war-horse Sheila Dikshit tohead the Delhi Congress isn’t sur-prising. It is but a decision takenin distress to rescue fortunes.

The political situation at theground level has changed withthe Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

coming to power. Despite havingbeen the Chief Minister for threeconsecutive terms, vast experi-ence and sober nature, Dikshitmay find it hard to compete withthe young Kejriwal, who despitea mix of success and failures, isdeeply entrenched in the mindsof Delhiites as the ground-upperson who can deliver.

Though Dikshit won laurelsfor introducing the Delhi Metro

during her tenure, challengesfaced by her in countering corrup-tion in the 2010 CommonwealthGames and women’s safety, espe-cially the famous Nirbhaya inci-dent, still linger in our minds.

Further, having lost toKejriwal in 2013 and then againin 2014, the party had been far-ing very badly. The task ahead,therefore, is daunting for Dikshit.She is familiar with Delhi alright

but can she deliver with renewedpromises and no recent record ofaffirmative actions?

KR Srinivasan Secunderabad

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Sir — This refers to the editori-al, “Sending right message”(January 14). Even people likeHardik Pandya and KL Rahul —who top the who’s who list of thecricket industry — shouldunderstand or face the conse-quences of reckless behaviour inpublic sphere.

While anchors of talk showsare always eager to put words inthe mouths of their guests, it isfor the latter to exercise prudenceand refrain from falling prey tosuch provocations. The Board ofControl for Cricket in India(BCCI), too, has intervened andbanned the two for the next ODIseries. It would take long beforeboth the cricketers can mend thedamage suffered due to irre-sponsible utterances.

N NagarajanVia email

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Our sexual and reproductiverights are realised only when thecountry’s laws and policies

reflect these in totality for everyone. OnDecember 19, 2018, the Lok Sabhapassed the Surrogacy (Regulation) Billbanning commercial surrogacy, whichhas been legal since 2002. The Bill isintended to regulate malpractices relat-ed to surrogacy and has managed tobecome restrictive and counterproduc-tive to the very principles it was tryingto uphold. Surrogacy is basically anarrangement between a woman and acouple or individual, often supportedby a legal agreement, whereby thewoman (surrogate mother — SM)agrees to become pregnant and givebirth for another person or persons(commissioning parent/s — CP).

Routinely, assisted reproductive tech-niques are used for pregnancy, mostoften using the intended parent’s eggsand sperms. In case that is not possi-ble, either a donor egg or sperm or bothare used. This has been possible due toadvancement in scientific technologyaround assisted reproduction. However,these variations and the lack of clarityaround legal status of this arrangementhave really been the reason for sometragic past incidents.

From 2002 until this Bill waspassed, commercial surrogacy waspossible and a real option for realis-ing reproductive rights of countlessindividuals and couples who couldnot conceive, women who were athigh risk of death and disability ifthey chose to be pregnant, singlepeople of any sexual orientationand so on. Unfortunately, whatqueered the pitch were several inci-dents of would-be parents abandon-ing the surrogate mothers with theirnew-borns and subjecting them toexploitative conditions and meagrecompensation. It was largely felt thatthe rights of surrogate mothers were

exploited and needed protection.The issue of surrogacy is primar-

ily linked to reproductive rights of indi-viduals. Besides, right to scientificprogress is a human right that must becentral to this debate. The rights to pro-create and enjoy the progress of scien-tific advancement are interlinked in thisdiscourse. However, the recent Bill willtranslate in suppressing these rights. Ithas defined conditions for commission-ing the surrogacy and promises to reg-ulate the process. However, what it doesis ban commercial surrogacy andmakes altruistic surrogacy by a ‘closerelative’ the only route possible. It alsoallows only married couples to be eli-gible for opting surrogacy, that too, ifthey don’t have any child and are infer-tile for five years.

These conditions are based onmultiple assumptions, which include,a close relative who would be willingand capable of undergoing surrogatemotherhood without any emotionalexploitation and future repercussion.Further, it also takes for granted thatthe couple unable to conceive wouldshare everything about their medical

conditions within the family and thatthe five-year wait is appropriate.Assuming these to be a blanket truthis dangerous.

The biggest assumption that theBill makes is that all surrogacy centreshave been exploiting surrogate moth-ers. It fails to take into account all thosecentres where the practice is regulat-ed and the rights of surrogate mothersare protected. These centres have a fixedremuneration, about which surrogatemothers are informed at the outset.They are given care and support alongwith nutrition and medication for ahealthy pregnancy. The counselling andlegal representation help in keeping ita fair and rights-based arrangement forall and the legality of parenthood isclear. There has been so many childrenborn of a surrogacy procedure andbeing raised in the last decade that suchpractices should have been examinedand strengthened instead of com-pletely being curbed.

Today, where marital relation-ships may or may not have societal andparental approvals due to caste and reli-gion, such couples now have no option

if they hope to have a surrogate babythrough an altruistic relative. Also, asthe demographics change from mul-tiple siblings and larger families to sin-gle or two child families, the availabil-ity of an altruistic relative would dwin-dle in times to come.

The Bill also violates the reproduc-tive rights of same sex couples, live-incouples, singles and transgenders.Ironically, other laws, like the Protectionof Women from Domestic ViolenceAct, 2005 and the recent repeal of somesections under the Indian Penal Code,Section 377 and the TransgenderPersons Bill 2018 (Transgender Persons(Protection of Rights) Bill, 2018),recognise the rights of cohabitation andsame sex relationships. Thus, the Billreally does not conflate coherently withexisting legislation around reproduc-tive rights and gender justice.

Historically, one consistent flawwith most of our policies and laws hasbeen the failure to constitute andmanage the processes necessary forcompliance. The district-level commit-tees responsible for registration ofclinics for carrying out medical termi-

nation of pregnancies (MTP) are non-existent in most districts. Under suchcircumstances, establishing nationalboard and other structures to defineand approve surrogacies seems a dis-tant reality for many people.

India is a country where multi-ple realities co-exist. Changing nar-ratives add to differences that arisein communities due to education,migration, influence of popularmedia and socio-cultural norms.These differences need to be under-stood and accounted for whiledrafting legal instruments, other-wise a blanket and superficial viewwould skew the purpose of theselaws. This Surrogacy (Regulation)Bill has failed in its promise touphold the reproductive rights ofmost Indians who desire to have aprogeny using the latest scientificadvances through fair means.

(Dr Kalpana Apte is theSecretary General (CEO) at FamilyPlanning Association of India. DrShamla Dupte is the Director forMedical at Family PlanningAssociation of India)

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The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) maybe the latest ally to desert theNational Democratic Alliance(NDA) on the Citizenship(Amendment) Bill, 2016, introduced

in the last session of the Lok Sabha recently, butby no stretch of the imagination can the partybe termed as a “political weather scientist.”Similarly, the tag should also not be passed onto the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which part-ed ways with the NDA last year. Compulsionsof state politics and scouting for better oppor-tunities at the national level forced these tworegional parties to break away from the NDArather than their potential to gauge trade winds.

In that sense, the bellwether status shouldgo to Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. Forlong, he has been described as the ‘mausamvagyanik’, who can assess which way the polit-ical wind is blowing or which party would reapthe electoral harvest and form the nextGovernment.

Many have even appreciated his ability ofbeing “accurate and correct” with his politicalmoves over a period spanning three decades.Both his admirers and critics believe that he hasgot so much of expertise in reading “people’smood and pulse” that he always supports thewinning cause — the coalition which rules thecountry.

Paswan has been a part of all national coali-tions. He was first elected as an MLA in Biharway back in 1969, though he has always pre-ferred to be in Central politics after theEmergency when he first won the Hajipur LokSabha seat by a record margin in 1977. Be it theRight (NDA led by the BJP) or the one in whichthe Left had a major role (Third Front led byVP Singh) or the Centrist party (Congress-ledUnited Progressive Alliance), one factor whichhas always been common is the 75-year-oldPaswan. No ideology is anathema to him aslong as it takes him to the treasury benches.

He was first inducted in Union Cabinet byVP Singh in 1989 and since then the Dalitleader has never looked back. Of course, he lostone election in 2009 to an old rival in Bihar —Ram Sundar Das — from his stronghold ofHajipur and had to remain out of power for fiveyears. His followers, however, term that peri-od as an “accident” and an “aberration.”

When he decided to stick to the NDA inBihar for the 2019 polls, successfully bargain-ing a healthy six seats for his Lok JanshaktiParty (LJP) and one Rajya Sabha seat for him-self, many in his home state wondered if he hadlost his ability to predict the political climatewith the same perfection and astuteness.

Many in Paswan’s home state say thatUpendra Kushwaha, the former junior HRDminister in Narendra Modi’s Government andthe first one to jump ship in Bihar from NDAto UPA, has now developed the knack whichPaswan possessed at one point of time.Kushwaha, as president of the Rashtriya LokSamata Party (RLSP) and a Koeri himself,joined the grand alliance (mahagatbandhan) ofthe Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) in the Hindi heartland, hoping to havea role in the next Union Government.

Kushwaha knows for sure that hisutility in NDA ended the momentNitish Kumar and his Janata DalUnited (JDU) joined hands with theBharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to retainpower in the State and oust the RJDwith which JDU had fought theAssembly elections in the first place.Kushwaha and Kumar share a similarcaste support base and he realised hewould be more useful to the mahagathbandhan in Bihar than theNDA. So Kushwaha’s ouster was aforegone conclusion. In fact, it helpedPaswan get a better deal with the NDAin seat-sharing as whatever incremen-tal votes his party gets in Bihar helpsthe latter’s cause in its bid to do wellin the State.

Bihar will be an important battle-field in the 2019 general election with40 seats, a State where both the UPAand NDA are firmly entrenched.Hence, this is one State where the bat-tle is largely between the two and notthe constituent parties as such.

Besides RJD, the Congress andnow the RLSP, the grand alliance inBihar also has former Chief MinisterJitan Ram Manjhi’s party, HindustaniAwam Morcha (HAM) and LoktantrikJanata Dal (LJD) founded by SharadYadav, who broke away from theJDU. Then there is Mukesh Sahni,who had floated his political outfitVikasshil Insaan Party (VIP) andjoined the grand alliance, aiming toget votes from his Nishad communi-ty spread across the State. In addition,there is a possibility of even the Left

parties becoming a part of the grandalliance, which could leave a couple ofseats for them to show it is an umbrel-la alliance of all castes, groups and ide-ology.

On paper, the alliance looks real-ly ‘grand’ given the various caste com-binations it carries with it, but onground it is difficult to visualise howcompeting castes, parties and groupswould jell, and whether one commu-nity would be able to transfer its voteto the other. Also, the sharing of seatsis still a mystery and several conflicts,claims and counterclaims couldemerge.

Ironically, it is in Bihar where theBJP had to concede to its allies in a bigway, which many see as the end of theroad for its expansion in the State. Itwon 22 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabhapoll, and along with its allies LJP (6)and RLSP (3), the NDA won 32 seatseven though the combinedOpposition then on paper was quitestrong — RJD and JDU. The BJPwould be contesting only 17 seats,forcing it to part ways with five seatswhich it won last time, clearly a set-back for the party cadres who werehoping for expansion and some dayform the State Government on theparty’s own strength like it did inMaharashtra, breaking from the ShivSena and contesting Assembly pollsalone.

As of now, Bihar is the only Statewhere the battle lines have beendrawn and demarcated firmly withalliances in place. Many see this as a

microcosm of India — emergence ofa two-alliance formation where theBJP would head one polarity and theCongress the other with regional par-ties siding with one or the otherdepending on their state politics,perceptions at a given point of timeand crass opportunism, of course.

It is now gradually becomingclear that it will be the regional par-ties which would become the newweather scientist of the Indian politics—switching sides at the slightest pos-sibility of better electoral outing andreviewing their decision every nowand then according to their conve-nience and smell of opportunity.Bihar is a perfect example where youdo not find any permanent politicalfriend or enemy.

Every single regional party of theState has a history of deserting eitherthe NDA or the UPA in the past several years ever since the days ofMandal and Mandir politics whichpeaked in the late 1980s and early1990s.

Both Paswan and Nitish Kumarare sailing in the same boat — chang-ing sides seamlessly, that too repeat-edly, without the baggage of ideologyor any other factor. Paswan may be theexpert on this but others are quicklyplaying catch-up. Kumar has almostcaught up with Paswan, changingfrom one extreme to the other — firstNDA to UPA and then back to NDA— without batting an eyelid.

(The writer is Senior Editor, ThePioneer, Chandigarh)

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The logistics sector in India wit-nessed a new high recently,when the Kolkata-Varanasi and

the Kolkata-Patna container cargoroute was made operational by IWAI.After this successful endeavour, IWAIis now also assisting with passengertransportation during the largest socialcongregation, at the Kumbh Mela inPrayagraj. PRAVIR PANDEY, sharesthe plans in place for a safe and effec-tive mode of transport for pilgrims andelaborates on the big plans towardsmaking the cost-effective and envi-ronment friendly, inland waterways aflourishing new transport modalchoice in India. Edited excerpts fromthe interview:

● Every year, the Kumbh Melareceives a large influx of pilgrims toVaranasi. What practical interven-tions have been made by IWAI totransport the passengers throughwaterways?In the past, IWAI provided the ferryservices and channel markings duringthe Ganga Sagar mela at West Bengaland during the Prakash Parv at Patna.At the Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj,IWAI has set up four floating termi-nals, one each at Kilaghat, SaraswatiGhat, Naini Bridge and Sujawan Ghat.Further, we have placed two vessels—CL Kasturba and SL Kamla, for pil-grim’s movement. These vessels havea carrying capacity of 150-200 pas-sengers and they are equipped with allnecessary safety measures. In addition,navigational aids will be maintainedbetween Prayagraj and Varanasi withthe targeted least available depth(LAD) of one meter. Five temporaryjetties at Chatnag, Sirsa, Sitamarhi,Vindhyachal and Chunar have alsobeen set up for the embarkment anddisembarkment of the passengers.The services will run from January 15to March 15. From Kilaghat, the pil-grims will be taken in a merry-go-round on small vessels for the sacredbath. This service will be scaled up dur-ing the days of the ‘Shahi Snan’. Webelieve that this service will not onlyreduce the stress on the cities duringtheKumbh Mela, but also offer ascenic and a convenient option to thedevotees to enjoy the sacred fair.

●Under the Jal Marg Vikas Project,one of the three multi-modal inlandwaterway terminals at Varanasi was

recently inaugurated by the PM.What is the proposed operatingmodel of these terminals?It has been planned to give these ter-minals to the private players on a PPPmode. Yes, the Varanasi terminal isready and inaugurated and we havealready done the RFQ and are nowgoing to issue the RPF after theapproval from the competent author-ity. At the RFQ stage, we received inter-est from four big players—Dubai-basedDP World, Singapore-based Portek ina joint-venture with India’s ACTL, andtwo other Indian companies—JMBaxi Group and IL&FS. These com-panies, after proving their technicalqualification, will be given the task ofOperation and Management (O&M)of the terminals. Keeping the base ofthe Model Concession Agreement ofthe Government of India, we will offerthe terminals to private players for 30years on royalty per ton of cargo onrevenue sharing basis. Also, though wehave completed the Phase-I of all theseprojects, the rest of the expansion of theterminals will be done by the privateplayers. So, for the full capacity utili-sation of the Varanasi terminal, thereis still a need of investments worth�350 crore, which will be borne by theprivate operators. This would result insaving the cost on behalf of the gov-ernment.

●Along the above multi-modal ter-minal at Varanasi, a Freight Village

has also been planned. What are thereasons for choosing Varanasi for thisproject and what is expected from it?A major challenge in the logisticsindustry is that of last-mile connec-tivity. Though the operating cost onwaterways is much cheaper than othermodes of transportation, the cost ofloading and unloading of cargo is sub-stantial. We are trying to address thisissue with a Freight Village at Varanasiwhich will serve as a cargo hub and acentre for cargo aggregation and valueaddition. It will also supplement thedevelopment of a professional logisticsindustry in the city, which will be cru-cial for the full capacity utilisation ofthe multi-modal terminal on riverGanga. This logistic hub will be devel-oped over 100 acres of land and willbecome a designated area where facil-ities for various modes of transporta-tion, distribution of goods and otherlogistics are available in a synchronisedmanner on a large scale. We will devel-op the necessary infrastructure atmore locations for the private playersto operate. We have assessed a directemployment generation of 200,000people and the indirect employmentcan reach up to 10 lakh persons as theprivate players will operate it later on.Varanasi proved to be ideal for such aproject since it is strategically locatedas a focal point in the logistics chainof the Eastern Transport Corridor ofthe country where the NationalWaterways-1, the Eastern Dedicated

Freight Corridor (EDFC), the NationalHighway-7 and the National Highway-2 pass through.

●The Government has laid a lot ofemphasis on connectivity for thenorth eastern region. There is talk ofdeveloping floating terminals inArunachal Pradesh. What are yourplans for this region?We are currently operating vessels onriver Brahamputra (NationalWaterways-2) from Dhubri to Sadiya.We already have a multi-modal ter-minal at the Pandu Port. Currently, inassociation with the World Bank, weare trying to explore the possibility ofa return cargo from the North East onNW-2 to make it more viable. Anotherimportant aspect of developing thenorth eastern region is the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route. We are fac-ing some draft issues on the Meghnariver and to address that, a jointdredging operation will be executedthere in cooperation with Bangladesh.We can transport cargo from Varanasito Sadia in Assam, opening access to4,000 km of waterways. We are alsoexploring an alternate route to theNorth East via the Sittwe Port inMyanmar. This is the KaladanMultimodal Transit Transport Project,which is being developed at a cost of�1,900 crore. It includes a sea port atSittwe, development of 158 km of theKaladan river going north, and aninland waterway terminal at Paletwa.It also includes development of 109 kmof road to connect with Zorinpui inMizoram. Once operational, whichshould be very soon, this crucial routewill give ease access to the north east-ern part of the country.

●You mentioned that using thewaterways as a means of transportcan help reduce the carbon footprintof the cargo industry, significantly.On these lines, IWAI had recentlyannounced a pilot project to demon-strate methanol as a maritime fuel.What is the update on this?Crucial steps have been taken toencourage research on using methanolas a maritime fuel and for riverine ves-sels. We have given three of our workboats to retrofit engines and six lowdraft cargo vessels of 1,000-2,000tonnes capacity to the Cochin Shipyardthat will use methanol as fuel with tech-nology from Sweden. Methanol can be

a game changer as the cost of the fuelis just �26 a litre. The roadmap for thisproject is being spearheaded by theUnion Minister for Shipping, NitinGadkari, who is really passionateabout making shipping on the nation-al waterways an economically cheap-er and an environment friendly trans-port option. Under his guidance, we areworking on fuel bunkering facilities atintervals of about 500 km on the entire1,600 km Haldia-Varanasi stretch forships running on methanol.

●IWAI aims to increase the cargotransportation through IWT onNational Waterways in the countryfrom 55 million tonnes currently to150 million tonnes by 2023, but dowe have enough vessels to meet thistarget? What are the plans in place toadd more vessels, if any?We believe that this target is achievable.Yes, the fact is that currently, we havevery few vessels to transport cargo onall the rivers. At the moment, IWAI has15 operating vessels, which carryitems like fly ash, coal, fertilisers andso on. We believe that 1,200-2,400tonnnes vessels will be required to meetthe target by 2023. Though our pri-mary job is to make the waterways nav-igable and equipped for vessels to sail,we have taken a big step towards build-ing confidence in the key players to usewaterways as their choice for trans-portation. Through the World Bankprocurement process, we engagedDST Germany, to design ideal ships forthe river Ganga. DST Germany hascome up with 13 class of ships, ideal-ly suited for the river Ganga whichinclude bulk cargo ships, barge, con-tainer ships and car carriers. Theserequire a low draft but have a carryingcapacity ranging from 600 to 2,450tonnes of cargo. After due diligencewith IIT Kharagpur, we have displayedthese General Arrangement designs,free of cost on our website, so that anyship builder can refer to them. To giveyou an estimate, an investment of �30-50 lakh is needed to design a new ship.That is a direct saving that wouldaccrue to the private sector, whowould use the DST Germany designsto manufacture riverine vessels.Though IWAI will also procure around15-20 vessels, I strongly believe that itis the private sector, which will have totake lead to make this sector morelucrative.

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The rupee Monday plungedby 43 paise to close at

nearly one-month low of 70.92against the US dollar amidweak industrial output growthdata, fall in domestic equitymarkets ands u s t a i n e dforeign fundoutflows.

A weakUS dollara g a i n s tmajor globalcurrenciesand fall incrude oilprices, how-ever, cappedlosses of thed o m e s t i ccurrency.

At the Interbank ForeignExchange (forex), the rupeeopened on a firm note at 70.50and touched a high of 70.44 perUS dollar in early trade.

But it pared early gainslater and fell to an intra-day lowof 70.95 against the US dollar.

The domestic currency,however, recovered some lostground and finally settled forthe day at 70.92 per dollar,down 43 paise over its previousclosing. This is the lowest clos-ing level since December 17when the rupee closed at 71.56per dollar.

On Friday, the rupee hadweakened by 8 paise to close at70.49 against the US dollar.

HDFC Securities HeadPCG & Capital MarketsStrategy VK Sharma said weak-er economic data, fall indomestic equity and foreign

fund outflow weighed on therupee sentiment.

Industrial output growthdropped to a 17-month low of0.5 per cent in November onaccount of contraction in themanufacturing sector, particu-larly consumer and capital

goods.Meanwhile, the dollar

index, which gauges the green-back's strength against a basketof six currencies, dipped 0.11per cent to 95.56 in late after-noon trade.

Brent crude, the globalbenchmark, was trading at$59.63 per barrel, lower by 1.41per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign fundssold shares worth �687.20 croreon a net basis Friday, whiledomestic institutional investorsbought equities to the tune of�123.17 crore, provisional datashowed.

The Financial BenchmarkIndia Private Ltd (FBIL) set thereference rate for the rupee/dol-lar at 70.8244 and for rupee/euroat 81.2469. The reference rate forrupee/British pound was fixed at90.9640 and for rupee/100Japanese yen at 65.50.

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2034-

In a bid to alignwith the best

corporate prac-tices, theF i n a n c eMinistry hasasked the publicsector banks togradually bringdown the gov-ernment's equityto 52 per cent, atop official said.

"The gov-ernment isessentially amajor share-holder. So, thisneed to bealigned to the best corporatepractices. The shareholdingneeds to come down to at least52 per cent in the first phase.As and when market conditionallows, banks will take step inthat direction. They have all thepermission in hand," FinancialServices Secretary Rajiv Kumarsaid.

Dilution of Governmentstake will help banks to meet 25per cent public float norms ofmarket regulator Sebi. Some ofthe public sector banks haveGovernment's holding beyond75 per cent.

Besides, it will encouragethe banks to follow the pru-dential lending norms.

The country's largestlender State Bank of India(SBI) has already initiated stepfor Rs 20,000 crore share salethrough qualified institutionalplacement (QIP). Post QIP,the Government stake will bediluted from the existing 58.53per cent.

Last month, shareholders

of the bank approved sale ofshares to fund the businessgrowth.

Many other banks are plan-ning to raise capital throughsome means or other, depend-ing on the market condition.

Some of the lenders likeSyndicate Bank, Union Bank ofIndia, Punjab National Bank,and Oriental Bank ofCommerce among others havealready issued or in process ofissuing Employee SharePurchase Scheme (ESPS).

He further said theGovernment has also initiatedthe process for consolidation ofRegional Rural Banks (RRBs)to better serve the needs of therural India.

Recently, the Centre hasamalgamated three RRBs —Punjab Gramin Bank, MalwaGramin Bank and SutlejGramin Bank — into a singleRRB with effect from January1.

The central Government,after consulting the sponsor

banks of the three RRBs, feltthat in the interest of the banksand the areas served by them,they should be amalgamatedinto a single RRB.

Besides, Punjab GraminBank (PNB), and Uttar BiharGramin Bank (UCO Bank)has been amalgamated withMadhya Bihar Gramin Bank(PNB).

While the consolidatedRRB in Punjab is called PunjabGramin Bank, with headquar-ters at Kapurthala, the one inBihar has been rechristened asDakshin Bihar Gramin (basedin Patna).

These banks were formedunder the RRB Act, 1976 withan objective to provide creditand other facilities to smallfarmers, agricultural labourersand artisans in rural areas.

Currently, the Centre holds50 per cent in RRBs, while 35per cent and 15 per cent arewith the concerned sponsorbanks and State Governments,respectively.

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The wife of ex-Nissan chiefCarlos Ghosn has alleged

her husband is being held in"harsh" conditions and sub-jected to round-the-clockinterrogations intended toextract a confession.

In a letter to Human RightsWatch, Carole Ghosn urged thegroup to highlight the case ofher husband, who has been indetention in Japan since hisshock arrest on November 19and faces three charges offinancial misconduct.

The nine-page letter saysthe former high-flying execu-tive is held in cell that is lit evenat night, and is denied his dailymedication.

"For hours each day, theprosecutors interrogate him,browbeat him, lecture him,and berate him, outside thepresence of his layers, in aneffort to extract a confession,"the letter says.

It claims prosecutors havepressed Ghosn to sign docu-ments in Japanese, which hedoes not understand, provid-ing only an oral translation,and without his lawyer present.

"I urge Human RightsWatch to highlight his case... Topress the Government toreform its draconian system ofpretrial detention and interro-gation," the letter adds.

Ghosn's ongoing deten-tion has prompted some inter-national criticism of Japan'slegal system, which permitsprosecutors to hold suspectswhile they investigate an alle-gation, and also allows lengthypre-trial detention oncecharges have been filed.

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�� '01�2034-

Bharat Heavy ElectricalsLimited (BHEL) has won

an order for setting up 129 MWSolar Photovoltaic (SPV) powerplants in Telangana fromSingareni Collieries CompanyLimited.

Significantly, valued atRs.565 Crore, this is the largestSPV power plant order won byBHEL till date.

The plants are to be set upat four locations in Telangana- Ramagundam (50 MW),Yellandu (39 MW), Manuguru(30 MW) and Pegadapally (10MW), on Engineering,Procurement and Construction(EPC) basis. With this order,BHEL’s solar portfolio has risento more than 710 MW.

BHEL has more than threedecades of expertise in solarphotovoltaic products and ser-vices backed by a dedicatedR&D setup. BHEL is one of thevery few companies in India,having established capability in

major segments of the PVvalue chain viz., solar cells, PVmodules and power condi-tioning units and systems.

BHEL has significantlycontributed to the ‘Make inIndia’ initiative of GoI andvarious initiatives for develop-ing and promoting renewableenergy based products andservices on a sustained basis.The company has alsoenhanced its state-of-the-artmanufacturing lines of solarcells and solar modules. Inaddition to this, BHEL isassembling space-grade solarpanels using high-efficiencycells at its Electronic SystemsDivision, Bengaluru.

In addition to solar pho-tovoltaic products, BHELoffers complete EPC solu-tions from concept to com-missioning for both off-gridand grid-interactive SPVpower plants in various partsof the country includingLakshadweep and Andaman& Nicobar Islands.

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�� '01�2034-

Market regulator Sebi imposed a fine totalling Rs 34 lakh on10 entities for indulging in fraudulent trading in the shares

of Mindvision Capital.The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had con-

ducted an investigation in the trading activities of the compa-ny between June 2009 and February 2010.

The probe found that the entities were connected to eachother and executed circular trading in the scrip of Mindvision,which resulted in creation of artificial volume.

The total volume that was contributed by the circular trad-ing was 94,745 shares which is 12.5 per cent of the total marketvolume, Sebi noted.

"The scheme, plan, device and artifice employed by thenoticees in this case of circular trading, tantamount to fraud onthe securities market in as much as it involves manipulative trans-actions in securities and misuse of the securities market.

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�"��!��(��"�#"�)"#%�4�4��!�Recently, actor-director, Rakesh Roshan has been diagnosed with

the early stage of Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) of the throatwhich is one of the primary types of throat cancer. This type ofcancer happens when there is excessive growth of abnormal cellsof the lining of the throat. The throat consists of pharynx and Larynx.The pharynx is the part of the throat behind the mouth and thenasal cavity. It is situated above the esophagus and larynx. Larynxis also called the voice box.

��There can be a number of factors contributing to the devel-

opment of throat cancer. The most common is the strong com-bination of heavy alcohol consumption and intake of tobacco,particularly in the form of cigarette smoking. Alcohol and tobac-co are already two of the most common reasons behind throatcancer and the risk increases when they are consumed simul-taneously for a long period of time. Apart from these, poor diet,bad oral hygiene, and even genetics can contribute to throat can-cer. It is most commonly diagnosed among those who are over60 years of age.

Various types of head and neck carcinoma are also associ-ated with certain chronic viral infections such as the Epstein-Barr Virus, Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), Herpes SimplexVirus and Human ImmunodeficiencyVirus (HIV). Few other risk fac-tors include prolong exposureto radiation or chemicalssuch as asbestos, nickel,and hydrocarbons.

��%��%��Look out for

change in the voiceespecially that refusesto resolve in weeks,sore throat forno apparent rea-son, hoarseness,trouble swallow-ing, sudden weight loss, anemia, constantuneasiness inside the throat, swollenlymph nodes and ear pain. If such con-ditions do not improve even after threeweeks of conventional treatment, it isadvisable to consult an oncologist.

��When diagnosed early, throat can-

cer has a high survival rate. To help withthe diagnosis, cooperate with the doc-tor by discussing the symptoms, lifestylechoices and medical history. To get aclearer look at the throat, a laryngoscopycould be prescribed to the patient. If anyabnormalities are found during this primary test, a more detailedbiopsy can be prescribed. There are various types of biopsies thatcan be suggested to the patient, such as the conventional biop-sy, fine needle aspiration (FNA), or an endoscopic biopsy.

Once throat cancer is diagnosed there are various imagingtests that can be undertaken to pin-point the extent of the can-cer or most commonly at what stage the cancer is currently resid-ing in. These tests may include magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), positron emission tomography (PET scan), computedtomography (CT scan), barium swallow and chest X-ray.

��%��Once the diagnosis is complete, the patient is given treat-

ment that can include one or a combination of multiple proce-dures over a certain period of time which is determined by theseverity of the throat cancer among other factors. Usually, theearly stages of throat cancer can be treated with microlaryngealsurgery (MLS) or by radiotherapy. However, in locally advanceddisease, combination of surgery and CT/RT have been provento be the successful course of treatment for throat cancer.

��Following the treatment, the patient is kept under close mon-

itoring to look for any relapse of the cancer. Meanwhile, somepatients may find themselves experiencing few complications.These include, having problems with speaking, breathing or swal-lowing, which can be helped through specific therapists, hard-ening of the skin or disfigurement of the neck or face, in whichcase reconstructive surgeries can be discussed.

��To reduce the risk of any type of head and neck cancer, dis-

continue smoking, stop any other form of tobacco intake, reducealcohol intake and if possible, gradually keep alcohol completelyaway, maintain a healthy lifestyle with balanced diet and lookoutfor HPVs by taking preventing measures.

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��%�� It may be small, but pumpkin seeds arepacked full of valuable nutrients. Eating only a small amount

of them can provide you with a substantial quantity of healthyfats, magnesium and zinc. It includes several health benefits likeimproved heart health, prostate healthand protection against certaincancers. They also contain alot of antioxidants likecarotenoids and Vitamin Eand a decent amount ofpolyunsaturated fatty acids,potassium, Vitamin B2(riboflavin) and folate. Dietsrich in pumpkin seeds have been associated with areduced risk of stomach, breast, lung, prostate and coloncancers. Pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin seed powder andpumpkin juice can reduce blood sugar and is especiallyimportant for people with diabetes. If you have trouble sleeping,you may want to eat some pumpkin seeds before bed. They're anatural source of tryptophan, an amino acid that can helppromote sleep. You can add them to smoothies, yogurt and fruitand also into the meals by sprinkling them into salads, soups orcereals. Some people use pumpkin seeds in baking, as aningredient for sweet or savory bread and cakes.

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More than 37 per cent Indians have bellyobesity, which is defined as abdominal

circumference, greater than 80 cm in womenand 90 cm in men. The reason for this is theeveryday consumption of wheat in diet.

Wheat is a part of staple diet, particular-ly in North India. Traditionally, Indians havebeen asked to do one wheat fast a week, extrawheat fast on the day of Ekadashi and nine-day wheat fast every three months duringNavratras.

�� Wheat contains amylopectin A, gliadin and

gluten. Amylopectin A is a chemical uniqueto wheat. It is a trigger of small LDL particles.When wheat is removed from the diet, thesesmall LDL levels reduce by 90 per cent.

Gliadin is a protein, which stimulatesappetite. Eating wheat increases the averageperson’s calorie intake by 400 calories a day.Gliadin also has opiate-like properties, whichmake it “addictive”.

��Gluten is inflammatory to the gut. Wheat

eating patterns changed in the 70s and 80s,when newer techniques came to be used toincrease yield, including hybridisation. It wasbred to be shorter and sturdier and also to havemore gliadin. Corn starch, rice starch, tapio-ca starch or potato starch are the four basicingredients of gluten-free products. Thesedried, powdered starches increase the bloodsugar even higher.

According to Dr Tom O’Bryan, an inter-national expert on wheat and wheat-relateddisorders, for every one person who has intesti-nal manifestations of wheat sensitivity, thereare eight who don’t have any Gluten intoler-ance (GI) symptoms. No human has the capa-bility to breakdown wheat. But, whetherwheat causes a problem for them depends onwhether they have crossed the line of tolerance.The inflammatory mechanisms begin once alltolerance is lost, which trigger the immune sys-tem resulting in an autoimmune disease.Females are three times more likely to devel-op autoimmune celiac disease than males.

Earlier, the term gluten sensitivity wasused, but now wheat sensitivity is used as wheathas several components other than gluten,which may be a problem.

All people are wheat sensitive to somedegree, so wheat can be called an inflamma-tory diet. The defense mechanisms varybetween individuals; while some may react toit, some may overcome it, until they cross theline of tolerance. If after eating wheat, you getdiscomfort, you should get yourself tested ortry a wheat elimination diet.

About 50 per cent of wheat-sensitive peo-ple also cross react with corn and dairy. Hence,a wheat elimination diet has no wheat of anytype, no sugar, no corns/grains and no dairyproducts. Eliminate these from your diet forthree weeks and observe the change. Then eata pizza on day 22. If you notice any worsen-ing effect, then you are wheat sensitive. If youare sensitive, omit wheat in the diet.

So, is rice safe? Rice doesn’t increase theblood sugar levels to the extent that wheat does;rice also doesn’t contain amylopectin A orgliadin.

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TACKLE YOURWHEAT BELLY

H��%��Both quinoa & amaranth are cere-

als. More appropriately, pseudo cere-als (both are non grasses that are usedin much the way as cereals which arein the form of grass, that is, ricepaddy, wheat field). Quinoa hasbeen marketed globally as a rareand exotic food whereas ama-ranth remain subdued andsidelined. Amaranth, alsoknown as Rajgeera orRamadana, is popular inJain and other communities during fasting and other rituals.

��6��Chia is purely a prod-

uct from the USA and theWest. Compositionally,chia is similar to basil.Both are rich source ofomega 3 fatty acid anddietary fiber. Both swelland becomes a gel whenadded to liquid. However,when it comes to price,chia seeds cost a whopping�350 (250g) compared to basil seeds, priced at �145 (250g).

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��Olive oil is widely used as a salad oil

worldwide. A few years ago, it gained pop-ularity in India as a ‘healthier oil’ primar-ily due to a wide range of misconceptionsand promotions. The amount of olive oilsold in the world today exceeds the produc-tion capacities, creating an artificial demandand driving pricing up higher.

Also, most of the olive oil sold in the market for general cooking is blended with pomace oil(pomace oil is extracted from the olive pulp whereas olive oil is extracted from the seed and thefruit. The refined pomace oil is more processed which can lose the nutritional quality of oliveoil). Groundnut oil is ideal for Indian style of cooking compared to virgin olive oil. Both olive oil& groundnut oil are heart-friendly oils and are rich in omega 6 fatty acids. (Groundnut oil is morenative and have good amount of phytonutrients and antioxidants that protect the body from dam-age from free radicals).

��66��We are used to cabbage. We use it in a

wide variety of Indian recipes. Kale andcabbage both belong to the same familyBrassica Oleracea. Cabbage is a rich sourceof Vitamin C and phytochemical, where-as Kale contains good source of B ComplexVitamins.

%��Today the label superfood is being attached

to the forgotten food like millets whichused to be a staple food few yearsago. Millets are nine varietiesof tiny grains also known asNavadanya. In the currentscenario of global warmingand water scarcity, milletscan be one of the cropswhich will provide the foodsecurity to the population.

Nine varieties of milletsare grown by the small dryland farmers across India. Someof them are on the verge ofextinction. Whereasoats has been marketedwell by the west as ahealthy breakfast por-ridge. Compared to oats,millets contain twice theamount of dietary fiberwhich provides bettersatiety value.

��$��6��%��Amla, or the Indian gooseberry, was

one of the most sacred treesin India. The fruit has beenused in traditionalIndian medicine, culi-nary dishes and even inIndian versions ofshampoos.

Amla is a richsource of VitaminC, about 252mgcompared to Gojiberry, which has48mg of Vitamin C (per 100g). Gojiberries are available in the market in aprocessed form which may lead to lossof Vitamin C. Both have their place in theEastern tradition, but amla has more pro-found medicinal benefits.

��I�%��Coconut oil is rich in saturated fatty acid along with medium

chain triglycerides which are readily absorbed in the body and pro-vides instant energy. Coconut oil contains good amount of antiox-idants and phytochemicals which provides protection against freeradical damage. Olive oil, on the other hand, is rich in unsaturat-ed fatty acids namely mono and polyunsaturated form. There arestudies that have seen beneficial effects of coconut oil for cardiac function. Olive oil has its ownbenefits but in a Mediterranean environment which can’t be always true to Indian conditions.

6�� Both buckwheat and oats are consumed as a

cereal because of the carbohydrate contentwhich is comparable with other cereals. Both aregluten free and can be given to people with glutenallergy. In India, buckwheat in the form of flouris used as a fasting food during Navratri andJanmashtmi in Northern part of India. It is knownas Kuttu in Hindi.

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The super foods are touted as the perfect health-iest options. We’ve stories all around us say-

ing ‘10 healthy breakfasts you must have’ featur-ing these foods. People try to make their own dietplans, and believe that the super foods are suffi-cient to address all their needs but end up focus-ing on it at the risk of an extremely imbalanceddiet. For instance, excess amount of omega 3 fattyacid rich foods can lead to high amount of free

radicals causing detrimental effects.Any minimally processed, well cultivated food

grain can be turned as a super food. Super foodcannot give a leverage to consume without con-trol. Any food not eaten in moderation can beharmful to the body. Each food has its importancein its own place, context, cultural preferences andregional ecosystem.

The increased focus on international superfoods means that Indian super foods take a backseat. International superfoods are extremely

expensive, and not affordable to everyone.Sometimes, certain foods might also lose its nutri-tional value when it is packaged and marketed inregions thousands of kilometers away. Diversityof diet is a basic bedrock of good nutrition &health. While we should always encourage diver-sity in thought and food, we truly need to under-stand the human body, our dietary requirementsand naturally, what is the most cost-effective wayof getting that nourishment.

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Statistics indicate thatsmokers are up to25 times more like-

ly to develop a cancer ofthe throat than their non-smoking counterparts.However, passive smoking, tobacco chew-ing, and cigar smoking are also risk fac-tors. Another risk factor is excessive useof alcohol and infection with HPV, a virusalso linked with cervical cancer in thewomen.

Throat cancer or squamous cell car-cinoma of the tonsil is a part of cancersof the head and neck. In oncology, squa-mous cell cancers of the head and neckare often considered together because theyshare many similarities — in incidence,cancer type, predisposing factors, patho-logical features, treatment of the cancerand cancer prognosis. Up to 30% of can-cer patients with one primary head andneck tumour will have a second primarymalignancy.

Ways in which one can diagnose andprevent the onset of cancer.

�Get yourself checked regularly.�Stop consumption of tobacco.�Filter tap water. This can reduce

exposure to possible carcinogens and hor-mone-disrupting chemicals.

�Get vaccinated on time and as perschedule. For example HPV vaccine helpsprevent most cervical cancers and sever-al other kinds of cancer.

�Drink water helps reduce the riskof bladder cancer.

�Make lifestyle changes.

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Headaches are oftenunderestimated but areone of the most com-

mon disorders of the nervoussystem. Some of the commonsymptoms are pulsating painon one side of the head,nausea, light sensitiv-ity and blurredvision. Butbefore you tryany of thesehome reme-dies, a visit toa doctor is amust to ruleout any otherproblem.

What you eatplays an importantpart in migraine preven-tion. Avoid eating chocolates,bacon, processed foods anddairy products like buttermilkand dahi.

For some people, drinkinga little coffee helps. But too

much can cause a migraine.Keep lavender oil handy.

Inhaling the oil can help bringrelief faster. One can applydiluted oil to the temples aswell.

Reach out for gin-ger; it helps ease

nausea. Gingerp o w d e rd e c r e a s e sseverity andd u r a t i o n .One candrink gingertea as well.

Stress is acommon trig-

ger for migraines.Find an outlet for it;

do meditation or yogato prevent future attacks.

Use nutmeg. Make a pastewith crushed nutmeg powderand water and massage this onthe forehead. This helps relieveheadache as it promotes sleep.

Those who get migraine attacksknow that it is not the typical

headache. Nausea and sensitivity tolight are common symptoms. Instead

of popping pills, ROSHANI DEVIshares tips that can reduce the

severity and duration

Anutosh Mishra, a 53-year-old bankemployee was suffer-

ing from AnkylosingSpondylitis, a form ofarthritis that affects thespine because of which hehad not been able to walkfor the last 15 years. Totreat this condition, hipreplacement surgeries(both) were carried out.

Dr Havind Tandon,Senior Consultant,Orthopaedics & JointReplacement at Indraprastha ApolloHospitals said: “Ankylosing Spondylitis ischronic inflammation of the spine andPelvis. Severe inflammation causes painand stiffness. It causes deformity and jointdestruction that lead to loss of mobility.The onset of the diseases starts in the sec-ond or third decade of life.”

As the spine is fused in thiscondition, it leads to variouschest problems also. Surgeriesof this kind have very highcomplication rates and thus,they require a multi-discipli-nary medical intervention,”further added Dr Tandon.

After the successfulsurgery, Mishra, at the time ofdischarge on January 6, 2019said: “I was in terrible pain andalways had to depend on oth-ers even for my day to day basicchores. I am thankful to Dr

Tandon because of whom I am able towalk properly today and perform my dailyroutine activities all by myself. It feels like,I have got my life back again.”

Ankylosing spondylitis is a genetic dis-ease, but becoming prevalent due to highsedentary lifestyle, alcohol abuse andtobacco use.

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President Donald Trump hasthreatened to “devastate”

Turkey economically if theNATO-allied nation attacksUS-backed Kurdish forces inSyria following a pullout ofAmerican troops from the war-torn country, in a stern warn-ing rejected by Ankara sayingit will continue to fight the “ter-rorists”.

Last month, PresidentTrump surprised the world byannouncing that he is with-drawing 2000 American troopsfrom Syria. The pullout beganlast week.

The US troop withdrawalhas left America’s Kurdish alliesvulnerable to an attack from

Turkey. Ankara views theKurdish forces as terroristsaligned with insurgents insideTurkey.

“Starting the long overduepullout from Syria while hittingthe little remaining ISIS terri-torial caliphate hard, and frommany directions. Will attackagain from existing nearbybase if it reforms,” the presidentsaid in a tweet on Sunday.

“Will devastate Turkey eco-nomically if they hit Kurds.Create 20-mile safe zone....Likewise, do not want theKurds to provoke Turkey,”Trump said in a hard-hittingtweet on Sunday.

Trump’s tweet is a starkthreat toward an ally in theregion that has partnered with

the US in the fight against ISIS.In a sharp response,

Turkish President Recep TayyipErdogan’s spokesman IbrahimKalin said that there was “nodifference” between the IslamicState extremist group and theKurdish People’s ProtectionUnits (YPG) militia.

“Mr Donald Trump,Terrorists can’t be your partners& allies. Turkey expects the USto honour our strategic part-nership and doesn’t want it tobe shadowed by terrorist pro-paganda. There is no differencebetween DAESH, PKK, PYDand YPG. We will continue tofight against them all,” Kalinsaid in a tweet.

“Mr Donald Trump It is afatal mistake to equate SyrianKurds with the PKK, which ison the US terrorists list, and itsSyria branch PYD/YPG.Turkey fights against terrorists,not Kurds. We will protectKurds and other Syriansagainst all terrorist threats,” hesaid.

Trump also warned ISISthat America would hit themhard from nearby militarybases if it regains momentum.

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US Secretary of State MikePompeo said Monday that

talks were under way onWashington’s proposal to estab-lish a “safe zone” in flashpointborder areas of northeasternSyria, where tensions are risingbetween Turkey and Kurdishmilitia.

“We want to make sure thatthe folks who fought with us todown the (Islamic State group)have security... And also that ter-rorists acting out of Syria aren’table to attack Turkey,” Pompeosaid.

“We want a secure borderfor all the parties,” he said in theSaudi capital Riyadh, the latestleg of a whirlwind Middle Easttour.

Washington is holding talkswith all relevent sides about sucha “safe zone”, he added.

His comments came a dayafter US President DonaldTrump in a tweet pushed for thecreation of a 20-mile (30-kilo-metre) “safe zone”, without say-ing who would create, enforce or

pay for it.Trump also did not say

exactly where such a buffer areawould be set up. Turkish ForeignMinister Mevlut Cavusoglu onMonday said his country was“not against” a “security zone” inSyria.

Tensions have been highbetween the United States andTurkey over the fate ofWashington’s Syrian Kurdishallies in the fight against theIslamic State group.

Ankara has repeatedlythreatened a new cross-borderoperation against the KurdishPeople’s Protection Units (YPG),which have been working close-ly with the US in the war on ISjihadists. Turkey views the YPGas a “terrorist offshoot” of theoutlawed Kurdistan Workers’Party (PKK), which has beenwaging an insurgency againstthe Turkish state since 1984.

Turkish President RecepTayyip Erdogan’s spokesmanIbrahim Kalin on Monday saidAnkara would “continue to fightagainst them all”, referring to ISand the YPG.

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China on Monday firmlyopposed transferring tech-

nology to Taiwan to make sub-marines, saying countrieswhich have relations withBeijing should earnestly abideby the one China principle andstop any form of military linkswith Taipei.

Taiwan media last yearreported that the US StateDepartment had approved thetransfer of technology that willallow Taiwan to produce itsown submarines. There werereports that six foreign com-panies, including one fromIndia, have already submitteddesign proposals for the sub-marines.

Among the six companies,there are two from Europe, twofrom the US, as well as anIndian company and a Japanesefirm offering designs for thesubmarines, the Taiwan Newsreported in October last year.

According to the report,the designs would come up forapproval by Taiwanese gov-ernment in March this year.The report did not give detailsof the six companies fromthese countries.

Replying to a questionfrom the official Chinese mediahere on Monday, ForeignMinistry spokesperson HuaChunying told a media briefingthat China is firmly opposed toany country selling arms toTaiwan.

“China is firmly opposed toany country to have any mili-tary links with Taiwan. Chinais consistent and clear cut. TheUS and other countries fullyrecognise the sensitivity andthe danger of this issue,” shesaid.

China claims that Taiwanwhich broke away in 1949 is

part of Chinese mainland andis opposed to any country hav-ing diplomatic contacts withTaipei.

Hua said the countrieswhich have relations withChina should earnestly abideby the one China principle andnot to allow any enterprises toparticipate in the submarineprogramme of Taiwan and stop any form of military linkswith it. “They should prudent-ly and properly handle Taiwanrelated issues thus avoidingharming of bilateral relationsand peace stability across theTaiwan straits,” she said.

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Adecades-old IranianBoeing 707 military cargo

plane reportedly carrying meatfrom Kyrgyzstan crashed onMonday while trying to landwest of Iran’s capital, killing 15people on board and leaving asole survivor, authorities said.

The crash of the jetlinermarked just the latest aviationdisaster for Iran, which hopedto replace its aging fleet underterms of the 2015 nuclear dealwith world powers.

But instead, PresidentDonald Trump’s withdrawalfrom the accord in May scuttledbillions of dollars in plannedsales by Airbus and Boeing Co.To the Islamic Republic, onlyincreasing the danger for pas-sengers in Iran planes.

The aircraft, which borethe paint scheme of the Iranianair force’s Saha civilian airline,was making emergency landingaround 8.30 am Monday atFath Airport, an airfield con-trolled by Iran’s powerful para-military Revolutionary Guard.

The plane skidded off therunway, crashed through aperimeter fence and into a res-idential neighborhood.

Iranian state televisionaired images of smoke-charredhomes and the fuselage of theaircraft lying on the ground inthe neighborhood. Nearby wasone of its land gear, torn away.Small fires burned around it.

The plane was meant toland at the nearby PayamInternational Airport, about40 kilometers (25 miles) westof Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Authorities did not imme-diately offer a reason for thecrew’s decision to land insteadat Fath Airport. That airport issome 10 kilometers (6.2 miles)southwest of Payam.

Its runway is some 1,100-meters (3,600-feet) long, com-pared to Payam’s 3,600 meters(11,800 feet). In November, acommercial airline reportedlymistook Fath for Payam, butwas able to abort its landing.

Iran’s state-run IRNA newsagency later quoted an anony-mous aviation official sayingMonday’s doomed flight like-wise mistook Fath for Payam.

Pirhossein Koulivand, thehead of the country’s emergencymedical services, said that of the16 people on board the plane,only the flight engineer wasknown to have survived.

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British Prime MinisterTheresa May offered both a

promise on workers’ rights anda reassuring letter fromEuropean Union leaders onMonday as she implored British

lawmakers to support her floun-dering Brexit deal.

But the British leader hadfew concrete measures up hersleeve a day before a vote inParliament which looks likely tosee her Brexit deal rejected. Adefeat on Tuesday would throw

Brexit plans into disarray justweeks before the U.K. Is due toleave the bloc on March 29.

May warned that the onlyalternatives to her agreementwere an economically damag-ing, chaotic “no-deal” exit fromthe EU or a halt to Britain’s

departure that would defyBritish voters’ decision in 2016to leave the bloc.

In a speech Monday at aceramics factory in the centralEngland city of Stoke-on-Trent,May said “people’s faith in thedemocratic process and theirpoliticians would suffer cata-strophic harm” if her deal isrejected and Brexit was aban-doned.

Having Britain leave the EUwithout a deal “would cause tur-bulence for our economy, cre-ate barriers to security cooper-ation and disrupt people’s dailylives,” she said.

“The only deal on the tableis the one (members ofParliament) will vote on tomor-row night,” May said.

Britain and the EU reacheda hard-won divorce deal inNovember, but the agreementhas run aground in the UKParliament. May post-poned a vote on the deal inDecember to avoid a resound-ing defeat, and there are fewsigns the deal has picked up

much support since then.Several previously opposed

British legislators have swungbehind May’s agreement in thelast few days, but they remainoutnumbered by those deter-mined to vote against it.

In a bid to win support,May sought reassurances fromEU leaders about the deal’smost contentious measure — aninsurance policy known as the“backstop” that would keepBritain in an EU customs unionto maintain an open borderbetween Northern Ireland andEU member Ireland after Brexit.

Pro-Brexit lawmakersworry that Britain could betrapped indefinitely in the back-stop, unable to strike new tradedeals around the world.

In a letter to May publishedMonday, European CouncilPresident Donald Tusk andEuropean CommissionPresident Jean-Claude Junckeroffered an assurance that thebackstop “would only be inplace for as long as strictly nec-essary.”

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In a relief to jailed formerPakistan Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif, the SupremeCourt on Monday dismissed theanti-graft body’s appeal againstthe suspension of his jail sen-tence and that of his family inone of three corruption casesfaced by the embattled leader.

In July 2018, an account-ability court here handed Sharif10 years as jail time for owningassets beyond known incomeand 1 year for not cooperatingwith the National AccountabilityBureau (NAB).

A five-member bench led byChief Justice Saqib Nisar upheldthe Islamabad High Court’s ver-dict that ordered suspension ofprison sentences awarded toSharif, his daughter Maryam

Nawaz and son-in-law Captain(retd) Mohammad Safdar inthe Avenfield corruption caserelated to their purchase of fourluxury flats in London throughcorrupt practices.

The apex court, in its ruling,said that the NAB has failed toprovide the “ground for cancel-lation of bail” and that the IHChad not exceeded its authority ingranting bail to the convicts ofthe Avenfield case. The 69-year-old three-time formerprime minister and his familyhave denied any wrongdoing.Sharif is currently in jail after ananti-corruption court sentencedhim on December 24 to sevenyears in jail in the Al-Azizia SteelMills graft case while acquittinghim in the Flagship Investmentscorruption case in the PanamaPapers scandal.

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It is that time of the year yet againwhen the largest literature festival inthe Asia Pacific region, the JaipurLiterature Festival, returns to enthrallbookworms and even those who are

not-so-literary inclined. With a myriad ofliterary sessions, performances and moreslated to be held at the Diggi Palace hotel,this year’s festival will span over four days,from 24th - 28th January.

But the Pink City holds a lot ofattractions for those who wish to delve intomore than just books. There are magnif-icent palaces, colorful bazaars and manyother one-of-a-kind experiences that thecity has to offer. The following are someplaces and activities:

The culture fix at Chokhi DhaniTo truly immerse yourself into the rich andvibrant culture of Rajasthan, kickstart yourvisit with a trip to this village resort whichtransports you to a realm that is far-removed from the city. Peppered withmagic shows, folk dance performances, ele-phant and camel rides, boating and acro-batics, there is a lot that can hold yourattention. There is more that is a delightfor your gastronomical senses as well.Savour the traditional Rajasthani farewhere you can partake dal-bati-choorma,mawakachori and ghewar among many lip-smacking delicacies.

Shop till you drop at the bazaars After that much needed disconnect fromcity life, the perfect way indulge yourself isby taking a trip through the vibrant bazaars.There are hole-in-the-wall shops which canreveal treasures that have their origins in tra-ditions that are thousands of years old.Within these bazaars, you can get every-thing from carved wooden souvenirs to col-orful handicrafts and marble sculptures. Youcan also find exquisite Rajasthani gold jew-elry, Mojaris and chappals and blue potterythat is unique to these locales.

Explore historical forts and palaces The rich history of the city which was

founded in 1727 is reflected in the abun-dance of mighty forts and palaces in thecity. Some of the celebrated architectur-al monuments include the Jal Mahal, theAmer Fort and the Nahargarh Fort. Thearchitecture of Jal Mahal which is nestledin the Man Sagar Lake amidst theNahargarh hills, showcases the amalga-mation of Rajput and Mughal styles. TheNahargarh fort offers an unparalleled viewof the entire city. The Amer fort isanother opulent palace built in red sand-stone and marble, which is also one of thevenues of the Jaipur Literature Festival thisyear. For those who are interested, thereare heritage walks aplenty for attendeesof the festival by seasoned local tourguides.

Dive into adventure Wrap up your trip to the otherwise quaintcity of Jaipur with the some adrenaline-pumping adventures that it has to offer. Zipthrough the wildlife with the famous jun-gle safaris or witness the mighty leopards,tigers and hyenas at the RanthamboreNational Park. Experience the wildernessthrough camel safari, paraglide across thesparkling lakes or drift over the city in ahot air balloon.

From its tales of past valour to its viva-cious present, there’s a lot that makes Jaipurunforgettable.

The antics of Suppandi, thetall tales of ShikariShambhu and the wisdom

of Tantri — who can forget thecharacters who were an essentialpart of our childhood days. Andnow, Tinkle, where each of thesecharacters have been appearingevery month with unfailing reg-ularity get to share inch spacewith actor Ranveer Singh in themagazine’s second issue forJanuary. He is seen posing withthe favorite Tinkle Toons, on thecover page of the issue.

And if you turn the pages, ‘Allin a day’s work’ is the comic stripstarring Ranveer Singh and

Tinkle Toons. That’s not all.Tinkle spotlight will also be fea-turing an interview with the

Simmba star.The issue will hit the stands

on January 16.

However, this is not the firsttime that celebrities have been apart of the much-loved chil-

dren’s magazine. The Indiancricketer Virat Kohli featured inthe magazine in November 2016,director Gauri Shinde in May2017, sportsperson P V Sidhu inNovember 2017 and authorRuskin Bond in September 2018(700th issue).

The actor in the meantime,continues his uninterrupted runat the box office where his latestrelease, Simmba has notched up350 crores making it his biggestsolo hit. This also make it thehighest grossing Bollywoodmovie for both Rohit Shetty andKaran Johar who are the co-pro-ducers.

When actor Shilpa Shuklaentered the Hindi filmindustry, abiding by the

common wisdom, she tried hard tobe conventional. She says, “Earlier,people told me that acceptance hap-pens if you present yourself in aconventional way. It is funnybecause as much as I tried beingmyself and focus on my acting, Ialso tried to be a part of this mind-set.” It was writer and filmmaker,Jaideep Sahni, she says, who toldher to be herself and break out ofthat trap during the filming of ChakDe India. “He told me, ‘Tu jaljeerahai. Tu Coca Cola bann ne kikoshish kyun kar rahi hai?’” Andthat is what set her on a path thathas now hewed out for herself. Therest as the history for BindiyaNaik remains one of the mostmemorable characters from thefilm.

“I was really intrigued bythese words. Why do we after alltry to become someone that weare not? From 2010 I started fol-lowing that. It’s very important forme to be comfortable in my ownskin,” says that actor who will beseen in Bombairiya.

Shilpa believes that imitating astyle that wasn’t her was tough. Shesays, “When I wore lenses for thefirst time for a screening, my eyeswere teary throughout. And I won-dered to myself as to why did I wearthem? I had to be me. But I equal-ly respect those people who actu-ally put themselves in someoneelse’s shoes and act.”

Even if you’ve been a part ofnumerous experiences, there arealways certain spaces which remainunexplored, believes Shilpa of Chak

De... and BA Pass fame. She saysthat her role in the film really “firedher up” after she learnt how it fit-ted in the “entire ensemble” ofthings. “I don’t think there are manyscripts around this topic today. Thefilm talks about a very relevant issuefor today’s society through humour.So I found it very unique,” she says.

The film’s director Pia Sukanyahad earlier said that the film makesvulnerable characters appear funny.It’s a film, she said, where onewould laugh at the plot and people’ssituations because they are too real.“Crisis-like situations are laughableprovided you are not a part of it,”she said.

Shilpa says that she found thescript interesting since she hadnever played a politician before and“my character is a funny one. In away, her situation is very serious butit can make people laugh. I liked thefact that there were so many differ-ent and interesting actors workingin the film. While telling a story, Ifeel all of us are instruments but inthis particular film, everyonetogether becomes one whole.”

Playing varied characters andgetting into someone else’s shoes isof course difficult. So how doesportraying a character personallyaffect or change a person? Shilpa

feels that even though one plays acharacter and is constantlyengrossed in it while shooting,“many a times, the realisation hitsyou much later after the film isreleased. And then, you start think-ing about it. Acting is very instinc-tive. You often work without real-ly putting your mind and thoughtto it.”

She says that it was only whenshe watched the film for the firsttime, that she realised what kind ofa message her character or the filmtries to give. “When I read thescript, I was laughing throughout.But only when I watched the filmI realised that it conveys such animportant message through com-edy.”

She says that it was similar withChak De... the film where she wasnoticed for the first time.Incidentally, it also transformed herin a way as she “fell in love” withhockey. Before that she had neverplayed the sport. “After that veryrole, I was eager to go and watchthe Hockey World Cup to see mycountry win. It happened after 36years. When such realities cometogether, the joy is irreplaceable,”says she.

Even though she has acted inother films, her character of Bindiya

Naik is the one that people stillremember very well. For Shilpa aswell, the role was path-breaking asit shaped her acting career, enabledher to move ahead and be true toherself.

The actress comes from a non-Bollywood background and saysthat she had no “orientation” beforecoming to the industry. “Earlier Iused to think that you complete thework and your job is done. Butthere is a lot that goes behind it. Itmakes you learn so much. Chak De,was my first commercial block-buster.” She felt that she had a lotto learn even after that. And beingreal topped the list.

That was evident in her char-acter in BA Pass which too gar-nered a round of applause.

She reveals that for her firststint, Khaamosh Paani, she wasonly 18 and basically “a kid whoknew nothing.” She says that therewere around 90-100 girls for therole’s audition, and it went extreme-ly well for her. But “I still don’t knowwhat had worked. So there arespaces which are always unknown.”

She says that with a role like BAPass, she learnt how to read, under-stand and question. She realisedthat even success has nothing to dowith happiness. “So it taught me to

figure out what is going to keep mein a happy space, equally empathet-ic to others, and in-tune with real-ity. Because often, in this industry,we are taken away from reality. Welive in our own world.” She addsthat this condition is not fair for anyartist, “because artists draw theirenergy from life. So I don’t believein living in a limbo and creatingcharacters.”

While talking about the evolu-tion of Bollywood over the years,she says that today “everyone is ahero.” She adds, “Why do certainfilms work? For example, Chak Deworked because everyone was ahero in it. We can see the times arechanging. Women are leading,actor is not the only hero.”

She gives another example ofher film, BA Pass. “People hadquestioned that the filmmakers hadput a woman in the forefront of theposter, so it might not sell. Iremember during its release,Chennai Express was going torelease the next week. But the filmworked and it is an evidence thataudience is accepting the change.When we talk of demand and sup-ply, this is what it is about. Supplyis not putting the blame on demandanymore. There are equal respon-sibilities. People are accepting con-tent, and rejecting what they don’tlike. They only put their moneywhere they find it worth. Eventhough it will take time to changecompletely, the good news is thatinteresting times have started.”(Starring Radhika Apte, AkshayOberoi, Ravi Kishan, among otheractors, the film releases on January 18.)

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Calling out Rajkumar Hirani inthe #MeToo movement is a rad-ical step-up in the naming and

shaming endeavour. The creator of theMunna Bhai series has silenced all hisfans and friends in the film industry,and the outspoken few have said theallegations against him are disturbing.

Writer Apurva Asrani is one of therare voices that spoke up on beingcontacted.

He said, “I choose to believe theyoung lady as it takes much courageto speak up against such a powerfulfilmmaker and then risk being boy-cotted by the film industry. I think theproducers did the right thing byremoving Mr. Hirani’s name from theEk Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Lagaposters and promos.

“This is something the PhantomFilms producers had failed to doafter allegations against Vikas Bahlcame to light.”

A HuffPost India article narratedthe alleged ordeal of a woman whoworked with Hirani on Sanju, andwho has claimed the filmmaker sex-ually assaulted her. Hirani has deniedit.

Actress Dia Mirza, a close friendof Hirani, reacted with stupefied con-fusion.

“I am deeply distressed by thisnews. As someone who has knownand respects Raju sir for 15 years, I canonly hope that a due official enquiryis conducted. He is one of the mostdecent human beings I have everworked with and I think it would begrossly unjust on my part to speak onthis as I do not know the details,” Diasaid.

Filmmaker Hansal Mehta said, “Itis disturbing. I hope the truth prevailsand due process is followed to ensurea quick and just resolution.”

Writer-director Vinta Nanda, whohas named Alok Nath for sexualassault, is extremely vocal on the alle-gations again Hirani.

“Despite having faced what I havepersonally, it’s hard to believe it.That’s what’s strange about how we’reconditioned by our feudal cultures.However, it’s no secret that patriarchyafter so many decades of industriali-sation, which led to women having tojoin workforces across the world, isstill too deeply entrenched in oursocial breeding.

“It’s no secret that multitudes ofmen and women in India lead duallives, one what is required at home and

within the family and the other thatis required for them to be at work.Therefore, it’s very hard to understandwhat’s going on in a person’s head andit’s very easy to hide the negative man-ifestations of power behaviours with-in the binary.”

Commenting on the deathlysilence in the film industry, Nandasaid, “The industry is frightened.There are skeletons hoarded in manycupboards out here and there’s no landleft for them to be buried. This silenceis what we call sanatta in Hindi.Everyone is speechless. They don’tknow what to say. They don’t knowwho they should protect, the preda-tors who are their dear friends or thesurvivors who need their support.”

She sees this as a moment of reck-oning for the Indian entertainmentindustry.

“This is a huge calling for theindustry. It’s time to wake up and smellthe coffee and do what is right becauseyou can’t veil the truth any longer. It’salso a moment in which the industryneeds to introspect. It needs to comeout of it’s we are family mode, whereanything that happens remains with-in the family.

“It’s time for the industry to usethis opportunity to become profes-sional across the board. I would bebold enough to add that we shouldprotect all survivors and help themheal but we should forgive all preda-tors and perpetrators who harassed,assaulted and violated them before the#MeToo movement happened. Fromhere onwards we should be strict,unforgiving and punishing to anybodywho dares to misbehave.”

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Photography for me is about darshan. In photogra-phy today, I see the art of tomorrow. It is some-

thing very unique for us,” ace lensman Raghu Rai hadsaid when I met him in 1990. Over 38 years, the colos-sus of Indian photography still speaks the same lan-guage. He is on a whirlwind trip to the City of Joy toget ready for the Kolkata Photo Festival where he willunveil at least 60 photographs at the ICCR Gallery.

��J��Raghu has always been a critic of his own work

and his reflections become vital to understand hiscorollary as well as his journey of more than 40 yearsof photographic Kolkata. “The time we live in is notjust complex, it is also multi-layered. I have alwayssaid the experience of India is horizontal, it does notbegin from anywhere, nor does it end anywhere. Therecomes a saturation point in any art form. A momentin space is just not enough and a panoramic experi-ence creates the possibility of capturing simultaneityof moments happening in any given situation. And itopens up a much larger canvas to deal with. Kolkatafor me is so many planes.”

%��“Kolkata is more than just the goddess and the

clamour and the chaos,” adds Raghu, “The city is aboutthe pulse, it is about the heartbeat. The poets, the play-wrights, the musicians — Kolkata awakens in us aworld we cannot ignore. Only those maestros likeSatyajit Ray, Rabindranath Tagore, SunilGangopadhyay, Samar Sen and Premendra Mitra couldhave evoked such stirrings . Kolkata for me is a pas-sionate chronicle of a city and our times.”

Raghu’s images will swim and float and draw usinto their maw. Elements and details go beyond thepurely pictorial. But it is the quintessential 1987 pho-tograph of a Woman and Kali along the Ganga Riverthat is perhaps the most evocative. The goddess, thecow and the woman under the peepul tree offer a com-bination of mythical perspectives and proportions sil-houetted by a quiet river and an industrial skyline inthe distance an impressionist insignia. Raghu hasalways revelled in the art of subtle allegory; he exaltsthe lexicon of the haiku; captures limited syllables,hunts structured lines to balance a number of variedelements floating into the frame. When you see theimage you are enveloped in the silence that descendsas you savour an effortlessly articulated moment thatis quintessentially Raghu.

The goddess and her primordial energy is one thatstirs myriad myths. Raghu stirs the crumbles of cre-ation as there are worshippers, both individual and col-lective in Kolkata’s many neighbourhood pujas and the

Bengali psyche. Raghu captures the release and fren-zy during the immersion.

��%%��%�Raghu is an artist whose eyes scan the streets of

Kolkata as well as the Hooghly and its banks. ShiftingSand Hooghly 1990 is yet another masterpiece whichwas a cover for his Calcutta book with a foreword writ-ten by Dominique Lapierre. Sinewed muscles and theboat become the vehicle of thoughts and expression.The agility and the grace of the common man oftenbecomes the leitmotif of his lingua franca. Raghu lovestalking about dulcet waters, rough streets, crowdedqueues and indifferent merchants.

At another point you can hear the confoundedmachine groaning, shaking the foundation of aneogothic mould while a building rises out into a sil-houette and looms over the top frame like a grandpresiding deity. Architecture etches itself outsuperbly when Raghu captures life in Kolkata inminute details. His book will be full of uncompro-mising contrasts offered by uncanny statements ofa city, that defines as well as dispels its paradoxes assoon as they are born.

Artist’s studio 2004 Kolkata, Wrestlers underHowrah Bridge 2004: These are inspired vignettesand votives — auratic and allegorical, profound andprofane, poetic and poignant. There is a measure ofRaghu’s sentiments, as his photographs unpack whatmight be called the “symbolic aura” surrounding sub-ject matter that traverses Calcutta to Kolkata. Raghuthen captures Kolkata in its mysterious fullness ofreality. His Kolkata will offer us insight into the col-lective consciousness of an India, which has insightand intuition.

��:��%��Again and again Raghu celebrates the power and

pathos of contradiction, suggesting India’s mapping.The strong shadows in the lower space of DirectingTraffic in Central Avenue, Kolkata(1990) contrastswith the luminous, if grayish, buildings in the upperspace. The difference is heightened by the contrastbetween the isolated policeman — wearing a blackshirt and white pants, thus epitomising the visual ten-sion of the scene — and the traffic. At the KolkataInternational Photo Festival Kolkata will be RaghuRai’s magnum opus and the crowds will gather andregurgitate the sights and scenes of the yesteryearonce more. And as the great T S Eliot wrote: “Timepresent and time past/ Are both perhaps present intime future, and time future contained in time past/If all time is eternally present/ All time is unre-deemable.”

In an attempt to raise fundsfor the ongoing flood relief

works in south India, ArtRises for Kerala (ARK),state’s first live art auctionwill be held on January 18 atthe Kochi-Muziris Biennale.It will feature 42 works ofmodern and contemporaryIndian art.

Auction houseSaffronart, in partnershipwith the Kochi BiennaleFoundation (KBF), is con-ducting the auction. Thesale will have no Buyer’sPremium and will be led byan untitled canvas and resinwork from 2018 by leadingcontemporary artist Anish

Kapoor. His canvas in resinand pigment which mea-sures 53 x 47 x 28 cm is esti-mated to be sold between�1,35,00,000 and

�1,75,00,000. Other topartists who have donatedworks for the auctioninclude Atul Dodiya, AnjuDodiya, G R Iranna, Gigi

Scaria, Sudhir Patwardhanand Vivan Sundaram. It alsofeatures two rare drawingsby Amrita Sher-Gil.

Saffronart ceo Dinesh

Vazirani said, “Our fundrais-er auction in August 2018raised 36 lakhs for the KeralaChief Minister’s DistressRelief Fund to aid rebuildingefforts following the devas-tating floods, and we arecounting on the generoussupport of art collectorsacross the world once again.Through this auction, wereiterate our solidarity withthe resilient people of thisbeautiful state.”

The live auction is beingpreceded by viewings atBastion Bungalow in FortKochi from January 5 to 17.

(The Biennale ends onMarch 29.)

Indian classical music is a cultur-al inheritance like no other. The

18th edition of the Swami HaridasTansen Sangeet Nritya Mahotsav cer-tainly has a connection with Tansenand Haridas. The classical style ofpresenting music was prevalent inthe Mughal era, where two musicgeniuses of India gained immensepopularity — Swami Haridas (saint-musician, poet and composer ofBrindavan) and his illustrious dis-ciple Mian Tansen. This festival wasinitiated to keep alive that musicalheritage.

Dedicated to 16th century poetsand musicians, the festival had per-formances by eminent musiciansand dancers such as ParveenSultana, Gundecha Brothers,Bickram Ghosh, Pandit Salil Bhatt,Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, UstadAmjad Ali Khan, and Uma Sharmaamong others.

“The event encourages theyounger generation to listen andabsorb the purity of Indian classicalmusic and dance. A traditionalatmosphere was created in a mehfilandaaz representing the old musi-cal style of our country. I wantedthem to hear what their forefatherslistened to,” Kathak exponent UmaSharma said. She performed a threesequence dance drama based on theeternal love between Radha and

Krishna in thumri style.Begum Parveen Sultana, who’s

an exponent of the Patiala Gharanaof Indian classical form of music,spoke about her experience, she said,“The festival is a reputed classicalmusic event being organised fornearly two decades now and I amvery pleased to be performing here.”She shared that the Tansen Mahotsavused to be hosted in Gwalior whenshe was a young girl.

Bikram Ghosh, a well-knowntabla player, known to create magicspells in Indo-fusion generes, per-formed Drums of India with threeother percussionists. He brought

together a virtuosic five-personensemble which explored theancient world of Indian percussion.

Amaan Ali Bangash shared,“Musical vibrations can influence

moods and emotions and have theability to shape our consciousness.Disparate types of music can havedifferent effects on the mind, bothpositive as well as negative. Ourmind must be nurtured and needsstimulation to develop and grow.Music is one of the most importantfood for the intellect.

The festival saw Dr AshwiniBhide Deshpande reciting a ragaPurva Kalyan followed by her melo-dious thumri. Sri Binod Lele on tabla.She said, “I have been performingfor several years now. The samme-lan attracts very elite and knowl-edgeable audience and that is thereason why it’s always a pleasure toperform here.”

The renowned classical dancer,Yamini Krishnamurthy while prais-ing Uma Sharma said, “I admireeverything about Uma. She is one ofthe very few, who’s promotingIndian culture wholeheartedly. Umais one of those gems, who’s divine-ly gifted. Even my father thinkhighly of her. The goodness of herwill always be in my heart.”

The four day musical extrava-ganza culminated with a high notewith none other than Ustad AmjadAli Khan. With a promise of meet-ing next year, Ustad Amjad madethe audience sublime with his tuneof sarod.

Art galleries are everywhere, butthere’s a lot more beyond thatworld. The India Art Fair has

become a pilgrimage of sorts for artlovers in the country as well as abroadoffering insights into cultural landscapesand initiating dialogues on various statesand cities.

This year the fair aims to discovermodern and contemporary art from SouthAsia, presenting 75 exhibitors from 24Indian and international cities.

Featuring a diverse selection of con-temporary art galleries from across India,the fair will also continue its tradition ofpresenting works by leading modernistslike FN Souza, Tyeb Mehta, Raja RaviVarma, Akbar Padamsee, and Ram Kumar.

Jagdip Jagpal, Fair director, said thatthroughout the fair, visitors will encountereleven art projects, ranging from large-scale interactive installations, to sculpturesand video works.

There will be many artists showcasingtheir respective presentations under thesection. Self-taught artist Baaraan Ijlal willpresent her sound installation titled,Change Room. Artist Manisha GeraBaswani will be exhibiting her seriestitled, Postcards from Home, which detailsaccounts from those affected by Partition.Among other artists, there will beGalleryske, which will create a pop-up con-cept store offering artist-designed prod-

ucts. There will be works by sculptorsShanthamani Muddaiah and ShalinaVichitra, alongside an immersive reflectionfrom architect Pinakin Patel. ArtistMadhusudhanan will be presenting a fewof his video works.

This year’s edition also welcomesback TAF: Tribal Art Forms, Delhi CraftsCouncil, Blueprint 12, and Swaraj ArtArchive as well as Britto Art Trust ofDhaka, Bangladesh, under the sectiontitled Platform, that also acts as spring-board for emerging art collectives fromSouth Asia.

Leading cultural organisations andfoundations from the South Asia regionwill include the Foundation for IndianContemporary Art (FICA), Kiran NadarMuseum of Art (KNMA), Museum of Artand Photography (MAP), and the BengalFoundation of Dhaka.

There will also be Inlaks ShivdasaniFoundation, which will show works byrecipients of the Inlaks Fine Art Awardsthroughout the fair. These will be joinedby New Delhi-based international bodies— Italian Embassy Cultural Centre andKorean Cultural Centre.

The fair programme will reflect uponthe changing face of the global art com-munity with Forum, a platform encourag-ing opportunities aimed at the youngergeneration.

London-based writer, researcher andcurator, Sitara Chowfla, who will be thisyear’s guest curator, will work on criticalexperimentation and the work of artists,curators, institutions, critics and collectorsacross the globe. The platform will includeperformances and talks by internationalartists, extending into the main galleryhalls with Forum Projects, including

When All Roads Are One by New York-based artist and designer Ghiora Aharoni.

A new initiative IAF Parallel will seecollateral events programmed by gal-leries, museums and arts spaces across thecity.

The main highlights of the sectioninclude artist Bharti Kher’s solo exhibitionat Bikaner House; an exhibition-launchdedicated to artist Upendra Maharathi atthe NGMA; artist Arpita Singh’s retrospec-tive at KNMA; and a special exhibition byFoundation for Indian Contemporary Art(FICA) at the IGNCA.

Among the major art galleries show-casing, there will be Chatterjee & Lal,Jhaveri Contemporary, Galerie Isa, Project88, Chemould Prescott Road, SakshiGallery and TARQ, Exhibit 320, NatureMorte, Shrine Empire and Anant Art,Kalakriti Art Gallery, Experimenter,Galleryske, and ZOCA.

Among the international galleries,there will be David Zwirner from London,New York, Hong Kong; Blain | Southernfrom London, Berlin; Aicon Gallery fromNew York; Lukas Feichtner Galerie fromVienna, Austria; 1X1 Art Gallery fromDubai; and Arario Gallery from Cheonan,Seoul, Shanghai.

The first-time participating interna-tional galleries include neugerriemschnei-der from Berlin, Germany, and SokyoGallery from Kyoto, Japan.

(The fair will begin on January 31 andgo on till February 3.)

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Abattling Andy Murray bowed out ofthe Australian Open at the first hur-dle on Monday, but it was business

as usual for ruthless Roger Federer andRafael Nadal who joined CarolineWozniacki in round two.

The Scottish five-time Melbourne Parkfinalist gave it everything he had andshowed glimpses of the form that won himthree Grand Slams, but his ailing body lethim down during a gutsy 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7),6-7 (4/7) defeat to 22nd seed RobertoBautista Agut.

Murray tearfully revealed before thetournament that he was in constant agonyfrom a hip injury and planned to retire thisyear.

The 31-year-old hopes to end his careerat Wimbledon, but has admitted theAustralian Open could be his last event,unless he has a late change of heart.

"Amazing. That was incredible, thankyou so, so much to everyone that came outtonight," he said after being given a rap-turous send-off.

While his tournament ended in despair,Swiss master Federer, six years older thanMurray, continued his march towards arecord seventh Australian Open title.

He swept past Uzbek Denis Istomin 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 said he was in "disbelief " that hewas the double defending champion at hisage and vowed to give his all to make it threein a row.

"I'm going to try everything possible (towin again) and leave it all on the court," saidthe world number three.

His long-time rival Nadal, who cut shorthis 2018 season to have surgery on a footinjury, showed no mercy to Australian wild-card James Duckworth in his openinground clash.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner cruisedthrough 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 and said it was animportant victory.

"Not easy to come back after a lot ofmonths, especially against a player playingsuper aggressive on every point," said the2009 Australian champion, who showed nosign of any injury worries. "The energy I feelin this place is fantastic."

The second seed is bidding to becomethe first man in the Open era, and only thethird in history along with Roy Emerson andRod Laver, to win each Grand Slam on twoor more occasions.

Fifth seed Kevin Anderson progressed,as did NextGen Finals champion StefanosTsitsipas. But ninth seed John Isner becamethe first top seed to crash out.

World number three Wozniacki, whomade her Grand Slam breakthrough inMelbourne last year, opened her defencewith a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win overBelgium's Alison van Uytvanck.

It was an emotional win for the Danewho is struggling with rheumatoid arthri-tis and she was in tears afterwards.

"Last year I had some special memoriesand just to be able to be back out here onRod Laver Arena is something extremelyspecial and emotional," she said.

��Second seed and 2016 champion

Angelique Kerber was also impressive,breezing past Slovenia's Polona Hercog 6-

2, 6-2.Maria Sharapova, a winner at

Melbourne in 2008, signalled her intent witha rare 6-0, 6-0 double bagel demolition ofBritain's Harriet Dart.

Playing in her 15th Australian Open, thethree-time finalist said she was pleased togo through so easily as she battles back frominjuries.

"I'm still working through some painfuldays. But, you know, I felt like I did all theright things today in order to get throughthat match," said the Russian.

Fifth seeded Sloane Stephens, the 2017US Open champion who struggled in herwarm-up tournaments in Brisbane andSydney, got back to business with an easytwo-set win against fellow American TaylorTownsend.

Eleventh seed Aryna Sabalenka, wide-ly tipped as a potential future champion, alsosafely negotiated round one on a hot day. ButGermany's 14th seed Julia Goerges wasknocked out, as was former French Openchampion Jelena Ostapenko.

Britain's Katie Boulter, meanwhile, cre-ated a slice of history by becoming the firstwoman to win in a third set tiebreak -- a newrule introduced to the Open this year, beat-ing Russia's Ekaterina Makarova 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (10/6).

�� )6 3 �36�*67

Top Indian shuttlersKidambi Srikanth and

Saina Nehwal will begin theseason with renewed verve atthe Malaysian Open WorldTour Super 500 tournamentwhich gets underway with thequalifiers here on Tuesday.

World No 8 Srikanthendured a below-par seasonwhere he topped the BWFranking for a brief period andalso claimed theCommonwealth Games Silverbut failed to win a single title,following an unprecedentedhigh of 2017.

Though he couldn't pro-duce the goods in the inter-national circuit, Srikanth man-aged to keep a clean slate in thejust-concluded PremierBadminton League (PBL)where he anchored his team toa title win on Sunday.

The 25-year-old fromGuntur will hope to continuehis unbeaten run when hetakes on Hong Kong's Ng KaLong Angus in his season-opener on Wednesday.

Saina, on the other hand,has been one of the top achiev-ers in 2018, claiming a second

Gold in the CWG and secur-ing a Bronze at the AsianGames and AsianChampionship.

She also reached the finalsat Indonesia Masters,Denmark Open and SyedModi International.

The 28-year-old fromHyderabad, who recently mar-ried fellow shuttler P Kashyap,will also face a Hong Kongplayer in Deng Joy Xuan in herwomen's singles first round.

B Sai Praneeth, mean-while, has decided to give thetournament a miss after fea-turing in the PBL forBengaluru Raptors.

Commonwealth Gamessilver medallists SatwiksairajRankireddy and Chirag Shettywill look for a positive starttoo when they face China's OuXuanyi and Ren Xiangyu.

In women's doubles,CWG Bronze medall istsAshwini Ponnappa and NSikki Reddy will meet HongKong's Ng Tsz Yau and YuenSin Ying, while the mixeddoubles pair of SatwiksairajRankireddy and AshwiniPonnappa square off againstEnglish pair of Ben Lane andJessica Pugh.

�� ):3) �

Asian Cup Gold medallist Shakil Amedhas added one more feather to his cap

when he set up a world record in indoorrowing by completing 1,00,000 (onelakh) metres in above-40 years categoryhere on Sunday.

A FISA level one coach, Shakil beganhis record-setting indoor rowing feat in

Salt Lake stadium complex at 8 am onSunday morning and achieved the mile-stone of covering 1,00,000 metres of sim-ulated distance in 10 hours.

Secretary of West Bengal RowingAssociation (WBRA) Souvik Ghosh andcommittee member AniruddhaMukherjee said they would now certifythe feat to the authorities of LimcaBook of Records for entering the achieve-

ment in their record book.Shakeel also has the record of com-

pleting 50,000 metres of simulated row-ing in four hours and 13 minutes whichis already in the Limca Record Book.

Rowing Federation of India GeneralSecretary Girish Phadnis congratulatedShakil for the unique feat.

"It is indeed a big achievement,” itsaid.

�&�� 27-2

Lionel Messi scored his 400thLa Liga goal, a total his

coach Ernesto Valverde called"monstrous", as Barcelona ter-rorised Eibar to reclaim theirfive-point cushion at the top ofthe table.

Messi drove the ball intothe bottom corner after beingteed up by Luis Suarez, whoadded two goals to his own tallyeither side of the Argentinianmarking another historic recordat the Camp Nou on Sunday.

"It's monstrous," saidValverde, after the 3-0 victory."It's easy to say but you have toscore them one after the other,it's a long-term job.

"His numbers are stratos-pheric, incredible. He is fromanother galaxy." Victory sawValverde's side restore theiradvantage over Atletico Madrid,who had briefly cut the gap totwo points after beating Levanteearlier in the day.

"There is a lot of time left,"Valverde said.

"It is a good cushion butnothing is done yet."

Real Madrid won too, beat-ing Real Betis, to ensure Spain's

big three all prevailed in thesame round for only the fourthtime this season. Real remain 10points adrift of Barcelona.

Messi, meanwhile, extendshis own hefty lead as the divi-sion's all-time top scorer, whichcurrently stands at 89 goals,ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ronaldo, now at Juventusin Italy, owns a better goals-to-game ratio, with his 311 strikescoming in 292 matches. Messi'squadruple century arrived inhis 435th.

In fact, it was one of Messi'squieter nights in terms of per-formance and in another team

it might have been Suarez orPhilippe Coutinho picking upthe plaudits.

Suarez assisted Messi,applied a classy finish and wason the end of a scintillatingteam move for Barca's first.

- Sparkling Coutinho dis-play -

==============================

Coutinho was the providerfor that one and delivered asparkling display to appeasethose doubting his future at theclub.

The Brazilian has endureda spell out of Valverde's pre-ferred starting line-up but heconverted a penalty againstLevante in the Copa del Rey onWednesday, and was arguablyman of the match here.

He alone supplied threepasses in the build-up toSuarez's opener. Arthur Melostarted it, playing a one-twowith Coutinho and then intothe feet of Sergio Busquets.

Busquets pinged the ballleft to Coutinho, who twiceexchanged with Suarez beforethe Uruguayan, off balance,found the far corner.

Messi's moment came inthe 53rd minute and it wasSuarez who started it, stealingback possession after a heavytouch from Anaitz Arbilla. Hebounced it off Coutinho andfound Messi, who touched andrifled in.

Barca were enjoying them-selves as Coutinho flicked theball over one opponent's headand Suarez did the samethrough another's legs.

The third goal was simple,however, Sergi Roberto takinga quick throw and freeing thescuttling Suarez. With the goal-keeper out, he looked up andchipped the ball into the net.

�� 3:'2:'

There were too many saves forManchester United goalkeeper David

de Gea to even remember.Everyone else was certainly counting:

Eleven. The most by any goalkeeper in aPremier League match this season. Andthey were all in the second half to thwarta Tottenham comeback.

The Spaniard's virtuoso goalkeepingperformance protected a 1-0 victory in thePremier League on Sunday after MarcusRashford's first-half strike, giving Uniteda sixth successive victory in all competi-tions since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replacedJose Mourinho.

"I said to David at halftime, 'You mighthave to make a save here, you have to keepyour concentration,'" Solskjaer said.

"He didn't have to keep his concen-tration because he was never allowed torelax. He is a fantastic goalkeeper. I thinkhe's the best in the world."

Few would dispute that on Sunday asDe Gea was masterful with his hands andfeet - particularly frustrating efforts byHarry Kane and Dele Alli to equalize.

"I don't even remember some ofthem," De Gea said, when asked for hisfavorite save.

Rashford helped out his teammate."The near-post save from the corner

was the best one," the striker said, along-side De Gea.

That was in the 70th minute whenChristian Eriksen's corner was turned inat the near post by Toby Alderweireld andDe Gea's instinctive reaction saw the ballcleared with his left foot.

"De Gea was unbelievable, and allcredit to him," Tottenham managerMauricio Pochettino said.

"We weren't clinical. And sometimeswith less opportunities you score, butthere's no complaints."

The only goal came in the 44th

minute at Wembley Stadium afterTottenham defender Kieran Trippier gavethe ball away. Paul Pogba sent a long, highdiagonal pass to Rashford who con-trolled the ball with one touch and thensent it low beyond goalkeeper HugoLloris.

By passing his first significant test,Solskjaer strengthened his bid to keep themanager's job into next season.

In particular, he got the better ofPochettino, who has been considered thefavorite to be hired as Mourinho's per-manent successor. Although still third inthe standings, Tottenham has now lostback-to-back league home games and top-scorer Harry Kane limped off at the end.

United is yet to rise from sixth underSolskjaer but the record 20-time Englishchampion is now only behind Arsenal ongoal difference and six points adrift ofChelsea in the fourth and final ChampionsLeague place.

And the mood has been transformedat United since Mourinho was fired andformer fans' favorite Solskjaer was broughtin on loan from Norwegian side Molde.

"The manager brought some happi-ness, the players are playing well and theteam is very strong now," De Gea said."This is the real Manchester United."

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Prajnesh Gunneswaran's maid-en Grand Slam appearance

ended in disappointment afterAmerican Frances Tiafoe defeat-ed the Indian in straight sets inthe opening round of theAustralian Open on Monday.

Tiafoe defeated Gunneswaran7-6 (9-7) 6-3 6-3 to set up a sec-ond round clash with big SouthAfrican Kevin Anderson.

World No 39 American beatthe Indian qualifier in a matchthat lasted an hour and 52 min-utes.

Guuneswaran fought hard inthe first set which went into thetie-breaker after both playersheld their serve till the 12thgame.

In the tie-breaker, Tiafoe gota mini-break and then closed theset at 9-7 in the tie-breaker.

Once he won the first set, theAmerican completely dominatedthe 106th ranked Indian in thesecond and third sets respective-ly.

Prajnesh's first serve let himdown in the second set and hissuccess rate was 43 percent com-pared to 72 per cent of theAmerican.

Tiafoe converted two breakpoints in the third and sixthgame of the second set to take it6-3.

In the final set, Tiafoe got animportant break of serve againstthe left-handed Gunneswaran inthe eighth game and then closedthe match in the ninth game toend India's lone challenge in thesingles event.

In the women's event, AnkitaRaina and Karman Kaur Thandifailed to cross the early hurdle los-ing in the second and first roundrespectively in the qualifiers.

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Mahendra Singh Dhoni's inabil-ity to set the pace duringmiddle overs will remain a

major cause of concern when India takeon Australia in a do-or-die second ODIon Tuesday in their bid to keep thethree-match series alive.

Hardik Pandya's sudden suspen-sion on disciplinary grounds has badlyaffected the balance of the batting order,which was apparent during team's 34-run defeat in the opening match despitevice-captain Rohit Sharma's 22nd hun-dred in 50-over format.

Dhoni's 51 off 96 balls and failingto rotate the strike has brought to focusthe rejigging that skipper Virat Kohliand coach Ravi Shastri will have to fretupon.

With Dhoni being slotted at No 5even though vice-captain Rohit wantsthe veteran to bat a notch higher butcues from India's training sessionmade it clear that the team is unlikelyto tinker with the batting order.

India's batting order did comeunder the spotlight at the SydneyCricket Ground. The top three (Rohit,Shikhar Dhawan and Kohli) haveenjoyed a fairly consistent run since2016.

But it was a rare occasion whenDhoni had to come out in the fourthover of the innings.

Dhoni averages 52.95 while battingat number four, which is higher thanhis current career-average of 50.11 over333 games.

It is even higher than his favouredbatting positions of number five (50.70)and six (46.33) but batting lower downthe order, strike-rate becomes para-mount.

Yet, Dhoni's career strike-rate atnumber four is 94.21 is higher than hisoverall career strike-rate of 87.60, or atnumber five (86.08) and number six(83.23).

When India last played ODIs inAustralia in January 2016, Dhoni bat-ted at number four in two matches butonly scored 18 runs.

In fact, since that series, Dhoni hasbatted at number four in only eightODIs, with the last instance in the 2018Asia Cup.

He averages 24.75 in this interim,with a strike-rate of 77.34 and a high-est of 80 against New Zealand inOctober 2016.

This presents a quandary, whichthe Indian team management might notbe in a mood to sort out at present.

Rayudu did well enough in the AsiaCup and in the home series againstWest Indies, and both batsmen merita longer run in their respective positionsto help settle this batting line-up in therun-up to the English summer.

No pre-match short-list has beenannounced for this second ODI, andall-rounder Vijay Shankaronly arrived late Mondayafternoon in Adelaide,thus might not be avail-able for selection.

In Hardik's continued absence,any forthcoming changes will be to finda better balance between bat and ball.

While India coped in the Asia Cupand against West Indies when he wasout injured, playing three spinners insub-continental conditions helped. Inoverseas conditions, Pandya's absencerestricts the team's capability withboth bat and ball.

Despite his suspect action, Rayuduis free to continue bowling in interna-tional cricket, but it remains to be seen

if the team managementwould want him to.

Kedar Jadhav providesan alternative option in

that light, and he could come into theplaying eleven at Dinesh Karthik'sexpense.

There is every chance that the samebowling composition as in the first ODIwill be retained, despite Khaleel Ahmedbeing off-colour. He batted in the netsalong side Yuzvendra Chahal onMonday.

Out of the three fast bowlers,Mohammed Shami was most impres-sive in the first match and given the del-icate situation of this series, he will cer-

tainly not be left out.The team management also banks

on Ravindra Jadeja's all-round skills,and as such Chahal's chances of animmediate return to the side looksdoubtful.

Mohammed Siraj had a long bowl-ing stint though, under the watchfuleyes of coach Ravi Shastri, and he couldbe in contention for Ahmed's place.

However, onus will be on the topthree batsmen to come good once againand deflect any undue pressure on themiddle order for a second game run-ning. Kohli averages 73.44 at theAdelaide Oval across all formats, whilein ODIs alone, he still averages an

impressive 46.66.While he would definitely strive to

score runs again at his favourite venue,Dhawan's form will be in limelight.

Along with Dhoni and Rayudu, heis the third batsman in the top six whodidn't play any domestic cricket whilethe Border-Gavaskar Trophy was beingcontested.

�H��India: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit

Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, AmbatiRayudu, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav,MS Dhoni (wk), Kuldeep Yadav,Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravindra Jadeja,Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed,Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj,Vijay Shankar.

Australia: Aron Finch (c), JasonBehrendorff, Alex Carey (wk), PeterHandscomb, Usman Khawaja, NathanLyon, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh,Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, PeterSiddle, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis,Ashton Turner, Adam Zampa.

�� 203 -20

Not playing a single inter-national match for a con-

siderable amount of time canimpact any bowler's matchrhythm and pacerBhuvneshwar Kumar learnt itthe hard way after being hitfor 66 runs in the first ODIagainst Australia at Sydney.

Bhuvneshwar, who was apart of the Test squad, wasn'tpicked in the playing XI dur-ing the four-match series anddid look rusty during the slogovers of the opening ODI.

Asked if being out ofcompetitive cricket for amonth have an impact, hereplied: "It (not playing regu-larly) did impact (myrhythm). Match rhythm istotally different when it comesto bowling. I was trying every-thing to be in rhythm in thenets.

"But it can't be a 100 percent when you compare to amatch (situation). It wasn'tgreat in the last match (inSydney) but it wasn't bad aswell. It can improve, as thematches will go on," he added.

During the past onemonth, Bhuvneshwar wastraining hard to get into matchrhythm.

"I was trying everything tobe in rhythm. In the nets, Iwasn't planning or preparingto bowl in the ODIs. I waspreparing like I have to play inany of the Tests. I was prepar-ing in that manner. Therewasn't anything specific that Icould do.

"But it was just normalbowling and increasing thenumber of overs. If I wasbowling 4 overs (to start with),then go to 6, then 8, then 10.The key thing for me is to beniggle-free and be in bowlingrhythm," the UP seamer said.

Bhuvneshwar revealedthat he wasn't 100 percent fitduring the series but current-

ly is niggle free."See, I was fit but I could-

n't say that I was a 100 percent. Because in Test match-es, it's a five-day game, so Ireally didn't know I would beable to go through that thing.What was good was we hadbowlers who could play at thattime and I got time to be 100per cent fit again. I wasn't real-ly sure that time," he said.

Bhuvneshwar claimed thathe has been able to regain hisusual pace and will be bowl-ing at 130-135 kmph.

"I was going through nig-gles at that time (in England)and when you have a niggleyou can't be a 100 per cent, sothat was during that period.Since then and now, I havetrained a lot, especially duringthe one month of the Testseries. I trained a lot. That isthe reason I am back to 130-135 (pace). The main thing isI am niggle-free right now.That's the main thing for me,"he said.

Kumar outlined that theteam management is not wor-ried about Ambati Rayudu'saction being deemed suspectby the ICC.

�� 203 -20

Australia vice-captain Alex Carey onMonday said that an ODI series

win against a top team like India "willmean a lot" considering the hosts'struggles over the last 12 months.

The home took a 1-0 lead in thethree-match series with a 34-run winin Sydney, and the second ODI will beplayed in Adelaide on Tuesday.

Pakistan were the last side to losean ODI series to Australia, 4-1 inJanuary 2017, and thereafter after atumultuous 2018, wherein they wononly 2 out of 18 ODIs, the hosts havestarted 2019 on a winning note.

"It would mean a lot, it has been awhile. I want to see Australia win andbeing part of it means so much to usevery game we play. But to continue toget better every game is probably ourbiggest process at the moment leadinginto that World Cup," said Carey.

"Against India, they're a really goodside so they're going to look to bounceback pretty quickly, so it's going to bea great opportunity to stand up tomor-row night, to puff our chests outagain and hopefully put another real-ly good performance," he said.

Carey insisted that Australia arenot seeing the ongoing contest as arevenge series after the loss in Tests

against India."I think the performance the other

night is a really good step in the rightdirection. If you take a look at our bat-ting performance, we all played well,we all played our role, and then withthe ball having them three down earlywas pretty early.

"But having to break that big part-nership between MS Dhoni and RohitSharma and get over the line was, as aplayer, was a really amazing feeling outthere."

Carey also talked about rollingthings into the World Cup and con-tinuing the winning form.

"I think the other night was a real-ly big step forward and we canimprove from that, definitely.Obviously the three quicks that playedthe Test series and played last seriesaren't in this series so it is a really goodopportunity for Jason Behrendorff,Jhye Richardson and Peter Siddle whoall played really well the other night.

"It was a great opportunity for metoo at the top of the order and PeterHandscomb coming back in. If youlook across the list, there are so manyopportunities for guys to put theirhand up and really make a spot theirown."

�� ):3) �

Australian umpiring great Simon Taufelon Monday backed under-fire crick-

eters Hardik Pandya and Lokesh Rahul,calling for the issue to be handled with careas everyone makes mistakes and it isimportant to learn from them.

Chastised from every corner for theiralleged "misogynistic" comments aboutwomen on a television show, the taintedpair have been suspended by the BCCI andhave returned home midway from the tourof Australia to explain themselves.

In the city as the special guest for a localcricket league -- the Silver Oak EstateCricket League — Taufel was asked abouthis opinion on the issue that has taken thenation by storm.

"I knew this question was going tocome up. Look what I would say in everyteam and in every business and every sport,is that good people make a good team. Andthat we all make mistakes from time totime. We all learn as we go," Taufel, 47, toldreporters at the Press Club.

"Although, I didn't see the show, I haveread little bit of press about some of thecomplaints. I have made plenty of mistakesin my career and I have learnt along theway.

"These players may have made somemistakes with some of the things that theyhave said. But they too will learn and allthe other players and all the other people

that have seen this event will also learn,"he added.

Considering the duo's career ahead,Taufel cautioned that the issue should behandled carefully and hoped that theywould learn from their mistakes andbecome better persons.

"So I think we really need to be care-ful about being overly critical. People domake mistakes but if we learn from thoseand we are genuine about wanting to dobetter, and commit to doing better thenthat's a good thing," he said.

�&�� (:4 ''0�,675

Duanne Olivier sparked a Pakistan col-lapse as South Africa completed a

series clean sweep with a 107-run win onthe fourth day of the third and final Testat the Wanderers Stadium on Monday.

Starting the day on 153 for three,Pakistan lost their remaining sevenwickets for 120 runs to be bowled out for273.

Olivier effectively ended Pak's hopeswhen he took two wickets off successiveballs in the third over of the morning.

Babar Azam received a fast, liftingball angled in towards his throat, whichhe gloved to wicketkeeper Quinton deKock. Azam (22) had helped AsadShafiq add 58 for the fourth wicket.

Pak captain Sarfraz Ahmed wasbowled first ball. Seemingly expecting

another short-pitched delivery fromOlivier, he was deep in his crease whenhe had his off stump knocked back by afast, full delivery. With V Philander gain-ing unpredictable bounce from a goodlength just outside off stump, Shafiqadvanced down the pitch and was caughtat second slip off a ball which seamed

away from him.Olivier, who got his chance to play

in the series because Philander wasinjured, was the leading wicket-taker with24 at an average of 14.71. He was namedman of the series. Kock, who made 129for SA in the 2nd innings, was man ofthe match.

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